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C.H.  SPURGE 


LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 

PRINCETON,   N.  J. 

Presented  by 

TheWic^ow  oT    George. H la d^n,  ^^ 


A^--^ 


<? 


1^  'iT 


TWELVE       ocTioms 


SOUL-WINNING  SERMONS. 


AT  THE  METROPOLITAN  TABEB,NACLE. 


BY 


C.  H.  SPURGEON. 


: :  jflemino  lb.  TRerell  :  : 


New  York : 
12  bible  house,  astor  place. 


Chicago: 
148  ^mo  150  madison  street. 


publisbci:  of  Evangcrtcal  literature    - 


THE  AUTHOR  TO  THE  READER. 


Friends  froquoitly  write  me,  requesting  information  as  to  which  of 
j  my  sermons  they  could  distribute  with  the  greatest  hojjc  of  doing  good 
thereby.  To  answer  that  question  I  have  made  this  selection  of  twelve 
from  the  si.xteen  hundred  and  sixty  of  my  printed  discourses  ;  and  they 
are  bound  togetlier  heie  just  as  they  were  issued  in  the  first  instance, 
witliout  regard  to  consecutive  paging.  These  discourses  have  been 
already  sealed  with  the  highest  approval,  for  they  have  been  used  by 
tlie  Holy  8i)irit  to  lead  many  to  Jesus.  The  thought  of  making  this 
selection  came  io  me  in  my  illness,  and  I  have  comforted  myself  with 
the  idea  that  these  soul-saving  sermons  may  thus  enter  upon  a  new 
career  of  usefulness.  I  trust  it  may  be  so,  and  that  they  will  go 
forth  still  furlher  afield  to  gather  home  the  lost  sheep. 

C.  H.  SPt'RGEON. 


XoiicK. — .\nyof  tlu- separate  sermons  in  this  volume  niny  Ix'  had  of  the 
pii hi ishers  ar  the  riite  of  So  cents  per  dozen  copies,  or  $2.00  per  hundred.  If 
sent  by  mail.  i)ostage  extra  3  cents  per  dozen,  or  25  cents  ikm  liiuulrod.  Not 
/(•s.s  Hion  1:'  rnpips  of  nin/  our  srniinii  will  he  sn])plied  at  these  rnto<. 


Peiitoplitait  ©abenuidc  iiil)jit 


S 


COMING— ALWAYS    COMING. 


DEIilVERED   BY 

C.    H.   SPURGEON, 

AT    THE    METROPOLITAN    TABERNACLE,    NEWINGTON, 


"To  whom  coining." — 1  Peter  ii.  4. 

The  apostle  is  speaking  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  of  whom  he  had  previously 
said,  "  If  so  be  ye  have  tasted  that  the  Lord  is  gracious,"  and  he  follows 
that  sentence  up  Avith  this,  "  To  whom  coming  as  unto  a  living  stone." 
Now,  I  want  to  call  your  special  attention  to  this  present  participle — 
this  act  of  coming — for  there  is  much  to  counsel  and  to  comfort  us  in 
the  fact  and  the  reflections  it  suggests. 

The  Christian  hfe  is  begun,  continued,  and  perfected  altogether  in 
connection  with  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  This  is  a  very  great  blessing  for 
us.  _  Sometimes  when  you  go  a  journey,  you  travel  so  far  under  the  pro- 
tection of  a  certain  Company,  but  then  you  have  to  change,  and  the  rest 
of  your  journey  may  be  performed  under  veiy  different  circumstances, 
upon  quite  another  kind  of  line.  Now  we  have;  not  so  far  to  go  to 
heaven  in  the  guardian  care  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  then  at  a  certain  point 
to  change,  so  as  to  have  somebody  else  to  be  our  leader,  or  some  othei 
method  of  salvation.  No,  he  is  the  author  and  he  is  the  finisher 
of  our  faith.  If  we  begin  aright  we  begin  with  "  Christ  is  all  ";  if  we 
go  on  aright  we  go  on  with  "  Christ  is  all  ";  and  if  we  finish  aright  we 
finish  with  "Christ  is  all."  It  was  a  great  delusion  of  some  in 
Paul's  day  that  after  they  had  begun  in  the  spirit,  they  hoped  to  be  made  iX 
perfect  in  the  flesh  ;  and  there  are  some  now  a  days  who  begin  as  sinners 
resting  upon  Christ,  but  they  want  to  go  on  as  mdepe'ndcnt  saints, 
resting  on  themselves.  That  will  never  do,  brethren.  It  is  not  "  Christ 
and  Company"  anyhow.  The  sinner  knows  that  it  must  be  Christ 
only,  because  he  has  nothing  of  his  own  ;  and  the  samt  ought  to  know 
that  it  must  be  Christ  only,  because  he  has  less  than  nothing  apart  from 
Christ.  I  believe  that  if  we  grow  out  of  Christ  we  grow  in  an  unhealthy 
mushroom  fashion :  what  we  need  is  to  grow  up  into  Christ  in  all  things, 
knowing  him  more  and  more,  and  being  more  and  more  satisfied  that  he 
is  what  we  need.  This  is  really  a  healthy  growth,  and  mav  God  send 
Xo.  1  334. 


<IS  MteTftOtOLll'AK  tAfiERNACLE  PULPlT. 

more  and  more  of  it  to  us  as  loag  as  ever  we  live.  Blessed  be  his  hoi_> 
name,  ■with  us  it  is  Christ  in  the  morning,  when  we  are  young  and  full 
of  strength  ;  it  is  Christ  at  noon,  when  Ave  are  bearing  the  burden  and 
heat  of  the  day  ;  and  it  is  Christ  at  eventide,  Avhen  we  lean  on  the  stafT 
for  very  age,  and  the  shadows  lengthen,  and  the  light  is  dim.  Yea,  and 
it  shall  be  Christ  only  when  the  night  settles  down  and  death-shade 
curtains  our  last  bed.  In  all  circumstances  and  conditions  we  look  to 
Jesus  only.  Are  we  in  wealth  ?  Christ  crowns  it.  Are  we  in  poverty  ? 
Christ  cheers  it.  Are  we  in  honour?  Christ  calms  us.  Are  we  in 
shame?  Christ  consoles  us.  Are  we  in  health?  He  sanctifies  it. 
Are  we  in  sickness?  He  relieves  it.  As  he  is  at  all  times  the  same  in 
himself  so  he  is  the  same  to  us.  To  the  same  Christ  we  must  come  and 
ding  under  every  new  circumstance.  Our  heart  must  abide  faithful  to 
her  one  only  Lord  and  lovingly  sing,— 

"I'll  turn  to  lliec  iu  days  of  liglit 
As  well  as  nights  of  care. 
Thou  brightest  amid  all  that's  bright, 
Thon  fiiirest  of  the  fair  !" 

We  have  not  to  seek  a  iresh  physician,  to  find  a  new  friend,  or  to  dis- 
cover a  novel  hope,  but  we  are  to  look  for  everything  to  Jesus  Christ,  "  the 
^  same  yesterday,  and  to-day,  and  for  ever."  "Ye  are  complete  in  him." 
Stand  to  this,  my  brethren.  Never  think  that  you  need  aught  beyond 
the  provision  which  is  stored  up  in  him,  for  sanctification,  for  satisfac- 
tion, or  for  safety.  Cast  not  your  eyes  around  you  to  find  a  supplement 
to  the  Lord  Jcsns,  or  you  will  deceive  yourselves  and  dishonour  him.  It 
is  not  with  our  Lord  as  it  was  with  Moses. ,  Moses  led  the  people  through 
the  wilderness,  but  he  could  not  bringHiem  into  the  i^romised  land  :  that 
■was  reserved  for  Joshua.  Brother,  the  Lord  Jesus  has  led  you  so  far 
through  the  wilderness,  and  he  wiS  lead  you  over  the  Jordan,  and  secure 
your  heritage  to  you,  and  see  you  safely  landed  in  it :  look  not,  therefore, 
for  any  other  leader  or  lawgiver.     It  is  not  with  Christ  as  it  was  with 

\y/  David :  David  collected  the  materials  for  the  temple,  but  though  he 
could  gather  together  vast  stores  of  great  value,  he  could  not  build  them 
up,  for  the  Lord  said  that  this  honour  should  be  reserved  for  his  son 
that  should  be  after  him ;  and  therefore  the  construction  of  the  temple 
was  left  for  Solomon.  But  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  blessed  be  his  name, 
has  not  only  gathered  together  his  people  and  the  precious  treasures 
with  which  he  is  to  build  a  living  temple  unto  God ;  but  he  will  also  build 
it  stone  upon  stone,  and  bring  foi-th  the  top  stone  with  shouting.  He 
shall  build  the  temple  of  the  Lord,  and  he  shall  bear  the  glory.  Christ 
in  the  Christian's  alphabet  is  A,  B,  C  right  down  to  Z,  and  all  the  words 
of  the  pure  language  of  Canaan  are  only  compounds  of  himself.  Has 
he  not  said  it,  "  I  am  Alpha  and  Omega,  the  beginning  and  the  end"? 
Our  text  speaks  about  coming  to  him,  and  I  shall  endeavour  to  expound 

^  it  to  you  thus.  This  is  a  fall  picture  of  Christian  life.  I  consider  it  to 
be  a  complete  picture  of  a  saint  drawn  with  one  stroke.  It  is  not  easy 
to  make  a  portrait  with  one  line,  yet  I  remember  seeing  a  somewhat 
famous  portrait  of  our  Lord  in  which  the  artist  never  lifted  his  pencil  from 
the  paper  from  beginning  to  end,  but  drew  the  whole  of  it  Avith  one 
continuous  series  of  circles.    So  here  I  may  say  the  Avhole  Christian  life 


UOMUTGI — ALWAYS  COMING.  39 

is  clra^vIl  in  one  line — coming  unto  Christ.  "  To  wliom  coming."  When 
we  have  spoken  upon  that,  J.  shall  answer  two  questions  ;  the  one — lohal 
is  the  best  ivay  of  coming  to  him  at  first?  the  other — ivhat  is  the  best 
way  of  coming  to  him  afterwards  ?  ]\Iay  the  Holy  Spirit  bless  the  whole 
discourse  to  our  souls. 

I.  First,  then,  here  is  a  complete  description  of  the  Chris- 
tian LIFE.     It  is  a  continuous  "  coming"  to~Jesus. 

If  you  have  your  Bibles  open  at  the  text  I  want  you  to  notice  that  the 
expression  occurs  in  connection  with  two  iigures.  There  is  one  which 
precedes  it  in  the  second  verse,  namely,  the  figure  of  a  little  child  fed  upon 
milk.  "  As  new-born  babes,  desire  the  sincere  milk  of  the  word,  that  ye 
may  grow  thereby :  if  so  be  ye  have  tasted  that  the  Lord  is  gracious. 
To  whom  coming."  Children  come  to  their  parents,  and  they  frequently 
come  rather  longer  than  their  parents  like ;  it  is  the  general  habit  of 
children  to  come  to  their  parents  for  what  they  need.  They  begin  with 
coming  to  the  mothers  when  they  are  new-bom  babes.  Look  at  the  httle 
child ;  it  cannot  provide  for  itself.  If  it  were  left  to  shift  for  itself  it  must 
die  ;  but  having  tasted  the  unadulterated  milk,  it  tliksts  for  more  of  it. 
AVhen  the  time  comes  round  for  it  to  be  fed,  and  it  comes  very  often,  it 
gives  unmistakeable  signs  even  before  it  can  speak  that  it  wants  its 
ibod ;  it  knows  where  to  come,  and  it  will  not  rest  till  it  reaches  its 
place  and  nestles  do^vn.  As  the  child  grows  up  it  knows  the  breakfast? 
hour,  and  the  dinner  hour,  and  knows  where  to  come  for  the  grateful  meal 
and  the  hearty  welcome.  You  do  not  want  in  most  of  your  houses,  I 
suspect,  to  ring  a  bell  to  call  your  children  together  to  the  family  table  : 
they  all  carry  little  interior  bells  which  let  them  know  pretty  accu- 
rately when  meal-times  will  be,  and  they  come  freely,  without  per- 
suading or  forcing.  Some  of  them  are  now  getting  to  be  fifteen)  or 
sixteen  years  of  age,  and  they  keep  on  coming  still.  They  coa«(  to 
your  table  just  as  they  used  to  come.  When  first  you  hajJ'^'io  lift 
them  into  their  little  chairs  then  they  were  coming ;  and/now  they 
take  their  big  chairs  as  if  they  quite  belonged  to  theift';  but  they 
still  keep  on  coming.  Yes,  and  they  come  to  you  not  only  for  bread 
and  for  meat,  but  they  come  for  a  gi-eat  many  thiiige,  besides.  In  fact, 
the  older  they  grow,  the  more  they  come  for.  TJiey  used  to  come  for 
little  shoes  and  little  garments,  and  now  they  feed  them  cut  of  a 
larger  size,  and  of  more  expensive  material,  and  they  come  accordingly. 
Though  they  cost  you  more  they  come  with  greater  freedom,  for  habit 
has  made  them  very  bold  in  their  comina.;  They  do  not  require  any 
entreaty  or  encouragement  i%  come  for  jivnat  they  want :  they  look  for 
many  things  as  a  matter  of  ^urss,  andK^br  the  rest  they  come  with  all 
the  readiness  imaginable.  iPeriiaps  j6fiey  let  you  know  their  desires  a 
little  sooner  than  you  Avantij>h0nr-fo  do,  and  when  you  think  that  they 
might  manage  a  little  longcj^^ith  what  they  have,  they  press  their 
claims  with  earnestness,  and  vote  them  urgent.  They  very  soon  find 
out  their  requirements,  you  never  have  to  call  them  together  and  say, 
"  Now  girls,  I  want  you  earnestly  to  consider  whether  you  do  not  want 
more  dresses.  Now  boys,  I  want  you  to  lay  it  to  heart  whether  you  do 
not  require  new  clothes."  Oh,  nothing  of  the  sort.  Your  children  do  not 
need  to  be  called  in  such  a  way  ;  they  come  without  calling.  They  are 
always  coming  for  something,  as  you  very  well  know.     Sometimes  they 


4:0  METROPOLITAIJ   TABERNACLE   rULl'IT. 

constrain  you  to  put  your  hands  into  your  pockets  so  frequently  and  for 
such  a  variety  of  expenses  that  you  wonder  how  long  the  purse  will  hold 
out,  and  when  your  resources  will  be  exhausted.  Of  one  thing  you 
feel  quite  sure  that  it  will  be  easier  to  drain  your  purse  than  to'  stop 
your  children  from  coming  for  one  thing  or  another. 

They  come  to  you  now  for  a  great  many  things  they  did  not  come  lor 
at  first.  It  seems  that  there  is  no  end  to  the  things  they  come  for, 
and  I  believe  there  is  no  end  at  all.  Some  of  them,  I  'know,  continue  to 
come  after  they  have  got  beyond  their  boyish  years.  Though  you  have  a 
notion,  I  suppose,  that  they  might  sliift  for  themselves,  they  are  still 
coming  for  sovereigns  where  shillings  used  to  suffice.  When  you  could 
put  them  to  bed  at  night  with  the  reflection  that  you  had  foimd  them  in 
food  and  raiment,  and  house  and  home,  you  knew  your  expenses ;  but 
now  the  big  fellows  come  to  you  with  such  heavy  demands  that  you  can 
hardly  see  the  end  of  it.     So  it  is ;  they  are  always  coming. 

Now,  in  all  this  long  talk  I  have  been  showing  you  how°to  imderstand 
the  figm-e  of  coming  to   Christ.      Just  what  your  chilcben  began  to 
do  from  the   first  moment  you   fixed  your  eyes  on  them,  and  what 
they  have  continued  to  do  ever  since,  that  is  just  what  you  are  to 
do  with  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.     You  are  to  be  always  coming  to  him — 
coming  to  him  for  spiritual  food,  coming  to  him  for  spiritual  garments, 
coming  to  him  for  washing,  guiding,  help,  and  health  :  coming  in  fact  for 
everything.  You  will  be  wise  if,  the  older  you  gi-ow,  the  more  you  come, 
and  he  will  be  all  the  better  pleased  with  you.     If  you  find  out  other 
wants  and  make  clearer  discoveries  of  your  needs,  come  for  more  than 
you  used  to  come  for,  and  prove  thereby  that  you  bettor  understand  and 
appreciate  what  manner  of  love  it  is— that  ye  should  be  called  the  sons 
^  of  God.     "  He  th.at  spared  not  his  own  Son,  buc  delivered  him  up  for 
^  us  all,  how  shall  he  not  with  him  also  freely  give  us  all  things  ?"     Has 
^    he  not  said  to  you, "  Open  your  mouth  wide  and  I  will  fill  it "  ?  It  is  rather 
strange  that  you  never  have  to  tell  your  chikben  to  do  that.     They  do 
it  without  any  telhng  ;  but  you  have  been  told  to  do  it,  and  yet  you  do 
y   not  do  it._    He  complains,  "  thou  hast  not  called  upon  me,  0  Jacob." 
The  infinite  hberality  of  your  heavenly  Father  has  m-ged  you  to  make 
great  requests  of  him,  and  yet  you  have  stuttered  and  stammered  and 
^   been  afraid  to  ask,  until  he  now  tells  you  that  "  you  have  not  because 
you  ask  not."    Beloved,  let  us  learn  from  our  chikfren,  and  let  it  be 
the  habit  of  our  lives  to  be  incessantly  coming  to  the  heavenly  Father — 
coming  oftener,  coming  for  moi'e  reasons,  coming  for  larger  blessings, 
coming  with  greater  expectations,  coming  in  one  life-long  perpetual 
cjming,  and  all  because  he  bids  us  come. 
^         If  you  will  look  again  at  your  Bibles,  you  will  get  a  second  illustration 
from  the  fourth  verse,  "  To  whom  coming  as  iinto  a  living  stono,  dis- 
allowed indeed  of  men,  but  chosen  of  Cod,  and  precious,  ye  also,  as 
lively  stones,  are  built  up  a  spiritual  house,  an  holy  priesthood,  to  oiler 
up  spiritual  sacrifices,  acceptable  to  God  by  Jesus  Christ."     Here  we 
have  the  figure  of  a  building.     A  building  comprises  first  a  foundation, 
and  then  the  stones  which  are  brought  to  the  foundation  and  arc  built 
upon  it.    This  fiurnishcs  a  very  beautiful  picture  of  Christian  life.    1  have 
read  that  there  has  been  discovered  beneath  Jerusalem  an  immense  cavern 
or  quarry  near  the  Damascus  gate.     TraA'cllers  who  have  been  into  this 


COMING — ALWAYS  COMlNa.  41 

quaiTy  say  that  there  are  niches  in  the  live  rock  out  of  which  the  magni- 
ficent stones  were  cut  with  which  Solomon's  temple  was  built.  The  tem- 
ple is  up  there  on  the  top  of  the  rock,  and  then  far  do^vn  in  the  quaiTy 
you  can  distinctly  discover  where  the  huge  stones  used  to  be.  Now 
there  was  a  process  of  coming  by  which  each  stone  came  to  the  foun- 
dation. Some  stones  that  were  expected  to  form  part  of  the  building 
never  reached  it :  there  is  one  huge  stone  of  that  sort  in  the  Bezetha 
cavern  now.  It  is  still  there,  for  this  reason — that,  though  it  is  squared  ^ 
and  chiselled  on  the  ft-ont  and  two  sides,  and  also  on  the  top  and  the 
bottom,  yet  it  has  never  been  cut  away  at  the  back,  and  so  it  cleaves 
to  the  rock  of  which  it  is  naturally  a  part,  and  remains  in  its  original 
darkness.  Now,  the  passage  that  I  would  like  you  to  think  of  is  that  in 
the  fifty-first  chapter  of  Isaiah — "  Look  unto  the  rock  whence  ye  are  i/ 
hewn,  and  to  the  hole  of  the  pit  whence  ye  are  digged."  There  are  many 
here  present  who  have  been  cut  off  from  the  rock,  and  lifted  up  out  of 
the  horrible  pit ;  since  which  early  operation  of  divine  grace  they  have 
been  coming  and  coming  till  they  have  reached  the  foundation,  and  are 
built  up  as  lively  stones  in  the  temple  which  is  estabhshed  upon  Christ. 
But  there  are  others  of  you  who  need  further  excavating.  God  has  begun 
his  work  upon  you,  he  has  used  sharp  tools,  and  begun  to  separate  you 
from  the  world :  it  has  taken  a  long  time  to  get  you  cut  away  from  the 
rock,  even  in  part.  You  used  to  be  altogether  sinful  and  earth-bound, 
and  you  lived  in  worldliness,  just  as  the  stone  formed  a  part  of  the  rock ; 
God  has  been  using  his  great  chisel  upon  you,  and  cut  you  away,  and 
separated  you  to  a  great  extent  from  yom*  fellow  men ;  but  still  at  the 
back,  in  secret,  your  heart  cleaves  to  sin.  You  have  not  given  up  the 
darling  lust  of  your  heart  and  therefore  you  are  not  quanied  yet,  and  you 
cannot  come  to  Christ,  for  that  is  impossible  till  you  are  separated  from 
the  rock  of  which  you  naturally  form  a  part.  Oh,  how  I  wish  that 
almighty  grace  would  take  the  saw  of  the  word  to-night,  and  make  clear 
cuts  right  across  your  stony  heart  until  you  are  sawn  right  adrift  from 
the  hard  rock  of  sin,  that  you  may  afterwards  be  made  to  come  to  Christ 
to  be  built  upon  him  as  your  foundation.  That  is  how  the  work  of 
grace  begins, — by  cutting  loose  the  soul  from  the  evil  world  of  which 
it  has  been  a  component  part.  This  is  part  of  the  process  by  wliich  the 
hving  stones  are  brought  to  rest  on  the  foundation,  for  it  is  clear  that 
they  cannot  come  to  the  foundation  till  first  they  are  removed  from 
their  native  bed  in  the  pit  of  sin.  Oh,  may  God's  gi'ace  continue  to 
take  out  many  of  this  congregation  like  stones  divided  from  the  quarry, 
that  so  by  grace  they  may  come  to  Jesus. 

AVell,  after  they  had  cut  out  those  stones  in  the  quarry,  which,  with  a 
little  imagination,  you  can  see  lying  there,  detached  and  distinct,  the 
next  operation  was  to  pull  them  up  to  the  top  of  Mount  Zion.  It  was  a 
long  drag  up  to  the  summit  of  the  hill.  How  ^;lomQn  managed  to 
remove  such  enormous  masses  we  do  not  know.  If~Eehad  no  machinery 
or  motive  force  that  could  supersede  manual  labour,  and  the  force  on 
which  he  rehed  was  in  the  sinews  of  men,  the  matter  is  all  the  more 
wonderful.  They  must  have  pulled  away  perhaps  many  thousands  of 
them  at  one  single  stone,  hauhng  it  out  of  the  pit,  dragging  it  up  the 
zigzag  roads  till  at  last  the  gigantic  mass  reached  its  place.  Now,  there 
IS  » lifting,  a  drawing  of  the  soiil  to  Christ  ^fter  this  fashipn,  and  I  se^ 


ii 


METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE  PULPIT. 


among  you  some  who  have  recently  been  drawn.  You  have  not  been 
dragged  by  men.  All  the  men  in  the  world  could  not  draw  a  sinner  to 
Christ.  No  machinery  is  known  or  will  ever  be  invented  that  can  ever 
draw  a  proud,  stubborn  will  to  Christ.  We  may  tug  and  pull  till  wo 
break  the  ropes,  but  we  shall  never  make  a  soul  stir  one  inch  Christ- 
ward.  But  there  is  another  poAver  which  can  accomplish  the  work  impos- 
/  sible  to  us.  "  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up,"  says  Christ,  "  will  draw  all  men  unto 
''  ine."  He  has  such  attractive  power  that  he  draws  the  stones  out  of 
the  quarry  of  nature,  right  up  to  the  foundation  Avhich  his  fi'ee  grace  has 
laid  in  Zion,  and  they  are  built  upon  him.  This  is  the  second  part 
of  the  work  of  grace  in  the  soul ;  first  it  separates  us  from  the  rock,  and 
then  it  draws  us  up  to  the  foundation,  and  in  both  it  is  working  out  our 
coming  to  Christ. 

Well,  we  have  watched  the  stone  as  it  has  been  carried  up.  What 
is  the  next  process  ?  Why,  the  next  work  is  to  let  it  down,  so  that  it 
lies  in  due  order  upon  the  foundation.  The  foundation  of  the  temple 
very  likely  was  far  below  the  adjacent  soil ;  and  so  this  mass  of  stone  had 
to  be  let  down  to  the  foundation  steadily  and  wisely  that  it  might  rest  in 
its  proper  bed.  What  a  task  it  is  sometimes — to  let  a  huge  stone  down 
upon  the  foundation,  and  to  get  it  to  lie  square  and  true,  so  that  every 
bit  of  it  is  in  proper  position  with  the  rest  of  the  structure.  Picture 
the  process  to  your  mind's  eye.  We  have  got  the  stone  upon  the 
base,  but  half  of  it  projects  beyond  the  foundation,  and  so  far  it  has 
nothing  to  lean  upon.  That  will  never  do.  It  must  be  moved  till  it 
lies  plumb  with  the  foundation,  exactly  square  with  the  other  stones, 
and  till  every  portion  of  it  rests  firmly  on  its  proper  bed.  Oh,  dear 
hearts,  this  is  one  work  which  the  grace  of  God  has  to  do  with  you — to 
bring  you  to  lie  upon  Christ,  to  recline  upon  Christ,  and  that  wholly, 
rightly,  and  squarely.  It  takes  a  long  time  to  bring  some  sinners  to 
this ;  they  want  to  1)0  propped  up  with  a  little  bit  of  self-righteousness, 
they  cannot  be  induced  to  lie  right  square  upon  Christ ;  they  want  to 
tilt  a  little,  have  a  little  shoring  up  with  their  own  doings,  and  a  little 
dependence  on  themselves :  but  this  will  never  do.  "To  whom  coming," 
says  the  text,  "  coming  as  to  a  living  stone."  Oh,  that  almighty  grace 
would  constrain  you  all  to  be  coming  till  you  lie  flat  and  square  on 
Christ,  till  you  have  Christ  at  one  corner,  and  Christ  at  the  other  corner, 
and  Christ  at  all  the  four  corners  whereon  your  soul  lies ;  till  you  are 
resting  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  at  all  times,  in  all  respects,  under  all 
/  circumstances,  for  everything.  Other  foundation  can  no  man  lay  ;  be 
/    ye  sure  that  ye  rest  wholly  upon  it. 

"  Bless  the  Lord,"  says  one,  "  I  know  I  have  come  as  far  as  that.  Can 
I  get  any  farther  ?"  AVell,  look  brother,  as  long  as  ever  that  huge  stone 
lies  on  the  Ibundation  it  is  always  coming  to  tiie  foundation.  Its  own 
weight  is  always  pressing  it  down  upon  the  foundation,  and  the  heavier  it 
is  the  more  closely  and  compactly  it  lies.  I  do  feel  myself,  now,  to 
be  more  close  to  Christ  than  ever  I  was.  My  weight  of  sin  helps  to 
press  me  down  on  him.  Mj  weight  of  trouble,  my  weight  of  care,  my 
weight  of  anxiety  about  the  souls  of  my  hearers,  and  even  my  weight  of 
ioy,  all  help  me  to  i)ress  more  on  my  Lord.  The  way  to  be  coming  to 
Christ,  l)rethren,  as  long  as  ever  you  live,  is  to  lean  more  on  Christ, 
press  more  heavily  on  Christ,  and  depend  more  upon  Chi'ist  than  ever 


COMING — ALWAYS  COMING.  43 

yon  did.  In  this  way,  you  know,  some  stones  seem,  by  long  abiding 
and  pressing,  to  cleave  to  one  another,  and  unite  together  till  they  appear 
to  be  no  longer  distinct,  but  one  mass.  Have  you  not  often  noticed  in 
an  old  Roman  wall  that  you  cannot  distinguish  the  mortar  from  the 
stone?  You  cannot  tell  where  the  stones  were  joined;  they  have 
grown  to  be  one  piece.  And  blessed  is  that  Christian  who,  like  a  living 
stone,  has  continued  so  to  come  to  the  foundation  till  Christ  and  he 
have  become  one,  as  it  were :  yea,  one  in  conscious  fact,  so  that  nothing 
can  divide  them.  Thus  we  continue  stiU  to  come  to  Jesus,  and  draw 
nearer  to  him  ;  nearer  and  yet  nearer  still,  built  up  into  him,  per- 
fectly joined  in  one  spirit.  Then,  only  then,  shall  Christian  hfe  be 
perfected. 

These  two  figures  of  the  babe  and  the  stone  have  shoxs-n  you,  I  trust, 
what  the  text  means.  I  have  not  gone  far  afield  to  find  them— they  lie, 
as  you  have  seen,  in  the  immediate  context.  "  To  whom  coming"  is  an 
apt  description  of  the  whole  of  Christian  life  :  mind  that  you  make  it 
the  rule  of  yours. 

II.  But  noAv,  secondly,  I  have  to  answer  the  question,  ivhat  is 
the  lest  way  of  coming  to  Christ  at  first '? 

"TTiefe  are  some  poor  hearts  among  you  longing  to  be  saved.  "  Ah,"| 
you  say,  "I  hear  that  if  I  come  to  Christ  I  shall  be  saved;  but  howl 
can  I  come  to  him  ?  What  do  you  mean  by  coming  to  Jesus?"  Well, J 
our  reply  is  plain  and  clear, — it  is  to  trust  Christ,  to  depend  upon  him,' 
to  beheve  him,  to  rely  upon  him.  Then  they  enquire,  "  But  how  can  I 
come  to  Christ  ?  In  what  way  would  you  recommend  me  to  come  ? " 
The  answer  is,  the  very  best  way  to  come  to  Christ  is  to  come  ivith  all 
your  needs  about  you.  If  you  could  get  rid  of  half  your  needs  apart 
from  Christ,  you  would  not  come  to  Jesus  half  so  well  as  you  can  with 
the  whole  of  them  pressing  upon  you,  for  your  need  furnishes  you  with 
motives  for  coming,  and  gives  you  pleas  to  urge.  Suppose  a  physicicin 
should  come  into  a  to^sn  with  motives  of  pure  benevolence  to  exercise 
the  healing  art.  What  he  wants  is  not  to  make  money,  but  to  bless  the 
townsmen  :  he  does  not  intend  to  make  any  charge  or  take  any  fees, 
but  he  lets  it  be  knoAvn  that  he  has  come  into  the  to^vn  to  display  his 
skill.  He  has  a  love  to  his  fellow  men,  and  he  wants  to  cure  them,  and 
therefore  he  gives  notice  that  as  he  only  wishes  for  opportunities  of  dis- 
playing his  kindness  and  skill,  the  poorest  will  be  welcome,  and  the 
most  diseased  will  be  best  received.  Now,  then,  who  is  the  man  that 
can  come  to  the  doctor's  door  with  confidence,  and  give  a  good  rat-tat-tat, 
and  feel  that  he  will  be  welcome  ?  Well,  there  is  a  person  who  has  cut 
his  finger :  will  the  doctor  rush  into  the  surgery  to  attend  to  him  ?  No 
doubt  he  wiU  look  at  the  cut,  but  he  wiU  not  grow  very  enthusiastic  over 
it,  for  doctors  do  not  get  much  credit  out  of  curing  cut  fingers.  Here 
is  another  gratis  patient  who  has  a  wart  on  his  hand.  Well,_  there  is 
nothing  vciy  famous  about  cm'ing  Avarts,  and  the  physician  is  by  no 
means  excited  over  his  work.  But  here  is  a  poor  forlorn  body  who  has 
been  given  up  by  aU  the  other  doctors,  a  patient  who  is  so  bad  that  he 
lies  at  death's  door  :  he  has  such  a  comphcation  of  diseases,  that  he 
could  hardly  tell  what  diseases  he  has  not  suffered  from,  but  certainly 
his  condition  is  terrible  enough  to  make  it  appear  hopeless.  He 
seems  to  be  a  living  wonder  of  disease.    That  is  the  man  who  mqj 


44  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE   PULPIT. 

come  boldly  to  the  physician,  and  expect  his  immediate  attention, 
and  his  best  consideration.  Now,  doctor,  if  you  can  cure  this  man  he 
will  be  a  credit  to  you.  This  man  exactly  answers  to  your  advertisement. 
You  say  that  you  only  wish  for  patients  who  will  give  you  an  opportunity 
of  displaying  your  skill.  Here  is  a  fine  object  for  your  pity,  he  is  bad  at 
the  lungs,  bad  at  the  heart,  bad  in  the  feet,  bad  in  the  eyes,  bad  in  the 
ears,  bad  in  the  head,  l^ad  all  over.  If  you  want  an  opportunity  of  showing 
y'  your  skill,  here  is  the  man.  Jesus,  my  Lord  and  ]\Iaster,  is  the  Great 
Physician  of  souls,  and  he  heals  them  on  just  such  terms  as  I  have  men- 
tioned. Is  there  a  fargone  sinner  here  to-night  ?  Is  there  a  deeply  sin- 
sick  soul  anywhere  within  the  range  of  my  voice  ?  Is  there  man  or 
woman  who  is  bad  altogf^ther?  Come  along,  my  friend,  you  are  just  in 
a  right  condition  to  come  to  Jesus  Christ.  Come  just  as  yo2i  are,  that 
is  the  best  style  of  "coming." 

Another  illustration  may  be  furnished  by   the  common  scriptural 
y  figure  of  a  feast     A  king  determines  to  act  with  generosity ;  and,  to 
show  how  liberal  his  disposition  is,  he  desires  to  make  a  banquet  for 
those  who  need  it  most.     He  says,  "  If  I  make  a  great  feast  to  my 
lords  and  dukes,  they  will  think  little  of  my  hospitality,  for  they  fare 
sumptuously  every  day;  therefore  I  will  seek  out  guests  who  will  be 
more  likely  to  be  grateful.    Where  shall  I  find  guests  who  will  most 
enjoy  my  dainties,  men  who  will  eat  with  the  greatest  gusto,  and  drink 
with  the  greatest  delight?"     Having  considered  the  matter,  he  cries  to 
his  heralds,  "  Go  ye  into  the  highAvays  and  hedges  and  compel  them  to 
come  in."     From  among  the  tramps  by  the  roadside  the  heralds  soon 
gather  starving  wretches  who  exactly  meet  the  king's  wishes.     Here  is 
a  poor  man  who  has  had  nothing  to  eat  for  the  last  forty-eight  hours. 
Look  at  his  eager  delight  at  the  sight  of  the  food !     If  you  want  some- 
body to  eat  largely  and  joyfully,  is  not  he  the  man  ?   See  how  he  takes  it 
in  I    It  is  wonderful  how  the  provisions  disappear  before  him !    Here  again 
is  a  poor  woman  who  has  been  picked  up  by  the  wayside,  foint  for  want 
of  bread.     She  has  scarcely  any  life  in  her,  but  see  how  she  begins  to 
open  her  eyes  at  the  first  morsel  that  is  placed  before  her,  and  what 
delight  there  is  in  her  every  expression  as  she  finds  herself  placed  at 
a  table  so  richly  loaded.    Yes,  the  poorer,  the  more  hungry,  the  more 
destitute  the  guests,  the  more  honour  is  accorded  to  the  king  who  feeds 
such  mendicants,  and  receives  such  vagrants  to  his  table.    Hear  how 
they  shout  the  king's  praises  when  they  are  filled  with  his  meat !     They 
will  never  have  done  thanking  him.     Now,  if  I  address  a  soul  to-night 
that  is  very  needy,  very  faint,  very  desponding,  you  are  a  fit  guest  for 
my  Master,  because  you  have  such  a  fine  appetite  for  his  generous  repast 
of  love.    The  greatness  of  your  need  is  your  fitness  for  coming  to  Christ, 
and  if  you  want  to  know  how  to  come,  come  just  as  you  are.     Tarry  not 
to  improve  yourself  one  single  atom ;  come  as  you  are,  with  all  your 
sin  and  filthiness  and  need  about  you,  for  that  is  the  best  way  to  come. 
If  you  want  to  know  how  to  come  aright  the  first  time,  I  should  answer, 
come  to  find  ever;/ 1  king  you  want  in  Christ.     Do  not  come  with  a  load 
of  your  own  wealth.     Remember  wduit  Pharaoh  said  to  Joseph  ;  "  Also 
regard  not  your  stuff;  for  the  good  of  all  the  land  of  Egypt  is  yours." 
Do  not  bring  your  old  rubbish  Avith  you.     "I  thought  I  was  to  l)ring 
repentance."    Do  not  attempt  to  do  so,  but  look  to  Jc^us  fov  it.    Jesua 


/ 


COMING — ALWAYS  COMING.  45 

Cbrisfc  is  exalted  on  high  to  give  repentance  and  remission  of  sins.  Come 
and  receive  a  heart  of  flesh,  for  you  cannot  make  one  for  yourself.  "  Oh, 
but  I  thought  I  was  to  bring  faith."  Faith  also  is  the  gift  of  Christ. 
It  cometh  by  hearing,  and  hearing  by  the  word  of  God  ;  draw  near  then 
to  that  word  to  find  ftiith.  Come  for  everything.  "  Oh,  but  I  want  to 
feel."  And  then,  I  suppose,  after  you  have  found  a  nice  lot  of  feehngs 
you  will  come  to  Christ,  and  say,  "  Lord,  thou  art  now  able  to  save  me, 
for  my  feehngs  are  right."  What  self-conceit!  Come  to  Christ  for 
feelings  ;  come  to  Christ  for  everything. 

"  What,"  saith  one,  "  can  you  mean  it,  that  I,  an  unfeeling,  im- 
penitent wretch,  am  bidden  to  come  at  once  and  believe  in  Jesus  Christ 
for  everlasting  life  ?"  I  mean  just  that.  I  do  not  mean  to  send  you 
round  to  that  shop  for  repentance,  and  to  the  other  shop  for  feeling, 
and  to  a  third  store  for  a  tender  heart,  and  then  direct  you  to  call  on 
Christ  at  last  for  a  few  odds  and  ends.  No,  no,  but  come  to  Christ  for 
everything. 

"  Come,  ye  need}',  come  and  welcome, 

God's  free  bounty  glorify  ; 

True  belief  and  ti'ue  repentance, 

Every  grace  that  brings  you  nigh, 

Without  money 

Come  to  Jesus  Christ  and  buy." 

—) 
I  beard  of  a  shop  some  time  ago  in  a  country  town  where  they  sold 
everything,  and  the  man  said  that  he  did  not  believe  that  there  was  any- 
thing a  human  being  wanted  but  what  he  could  rig  him  out  from  top  to 
toe.  Well,  I  do  not  know  whether  that  promise  would  have  been  carried  u 
out  to  the  letter  if  it  had  been  tried,  but  I  know  it  is  so  with  Jesus 
Christ ;  he  can  supply  you  with  all  you  need,  for  "  Christ  is  all."  There 
is  not  a  need  your  soul  can  possibly  have  but  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  can 
supply  it,  and  the  very  best  way  to  come  is  to  come  to  him  for  everything. 

The  best  way  to  come  to  Christ  is  to  come  meaning  to  get  evergthing, 
and  to  obtain  all  the  plenitude  of  grace,  which  he  has  laid  up  in  store, 
and  promised  freely  to  give.  Some  poor  souls  who  come  to  Jesus  Christ 
seem  as  if  they  wanted  a  little  rehef  from  fear,  a  hope  that  they  may 
just  get  saved,  and  a  fair  chance  of  going  to  heaven  when  they  die. 
Pray  do  not  come  in  that  way,  my  dear  friend.  Come  intending  to 
obtain  the  fulness  of  love,  the  uttermost  of  grace.  Some  time  ago,  when 
there  was  a  dinner  given  to  poor  people,  they  were  told  to  come  and  they 
should  have  all  they  could  eat.  Do  you  know  what  they  did,  some  ofl 
them  ?  There  was  not  to  be  any  dinner  till  six  o'clock.  Well,  that 
they  might  have  a  noble  appetite,  they  did  not  eat  any  breakfast- — not 
they.  They  meant  to  get  all  they  could  now  they  had  an  opportunity,  ■ 
and  so  they  came  as  hungry  as  possible.  Many  years  ago,  I  am  told,  it 
used  to  be  the  custom  of  the  lord  of  the  manor,  in  certain  villages,  on 
Christmas-day  to  give  the  poor  people  a  basin  of  food,  and  the  rule  was 
that  whatever  basin  was  brought  his  lordship  always  filled  it.  It  was 
perfectly  marvellous  how  the  basins  grew,  till  at  last,  when  some  of  the 
women  came  with  their  basins  the  lord  of  the  manor  looked  at  the  huge 
bowls  and  wondered  how  they  could  dare  to  bring  such  capacious  vessels. 
But  if  he  was  a  man  of  a  generous  heart,  all  he  would  say  to  his  steward 
would  be,  "  These  people  beheve  in  my  generosity.     Go  and  fill  their  j 


46  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE  PULPIT. 

bowls.  Fill,  and  fill  on  till  you  have  filled  them  all.  As  long  as  t]ic> 
bring  their  bowls  none  shall  say  that  I  denied  them,"  And  now,  when 
you  go  to  Christ,  take  a  capacious  vessel  of  large  prayer  and  great  er- 
pectation.  Enlarge  your  desire,  and  make  up  your  mind  to  this — "  * 
am  not  going  in  to  be  a  miserable  Christian,  with  barely  enough  grace 
to  keep  me  from  open  profanity,  to  whitewash  me  Avith  a  respectable 
profession,  and  ensure  me  against  the  peril  of  everlasting  perdition : 
I  mean  to  take  a  higher  aim,  and  to  seek  a  better  portion.  Fain 
would  I  vie  with  saints  and  angels  and  be  the  most  happy,  the  most 
useful,  the  most  joyous,  the  most  holy  believer  that  ever  lived,  if  God 
will  help  me  so  to  be."  I  wish  we  had  some  of  the  old  ]\Iethodist  fire 
back  amongst  us  again.  Some  of  those  dear  old  people,  if  they  did 
not  know  much,  used  to  enjoy  much,  and  when  they  went  to  hear  a  sermon 
they  listened  with  a  zest,  for  they  received  the  word  of  God  as  a  fresh 
inspiration  ;  it  was  a  lively  oracle  to  them.  The  gospel  as  it  was  preached 
to  them  awoke  an  echo  in  their  hearts,  they  were  all  alive  to  its  good  cheer, 
and  they  shouted,  "  Amen,  hallelujah,  bless  the  Lord,"  as  they  heard 
it,  for  it  Avent  home  to  their  souls.  Now  a  days  we  are  very  proper  and 
decorous  in  our  behaviom*  all  of  us,  and  we  are  not  a  little  critical  in 
our  taste.  As  we  pick  up  a  crumb  of  the  gospel  we  like  to  know 
whether  it  is  the  real  aerated  bread  baked  in  a  tin,  or  whether  it  is  the 
common  household  bread  of  the  shops.  The  preacher  is  a  "  little  odd," 
and  he  does  not  cut  the  bread  exactly  into  dice  pieces,  and  so  we  do 
not  like  the  manner  of  service,  for  we  are  rather  fastidious,  and  Ave  air 
our  own  conceits  by  fault-finding.  Because  the  Lord's  servant  does  not 
very  daintily  bring  us  our  portion  on  a  silver  sah-er,  and  hold  it  out 
to  us,  Ave  curl  our  hp  and  say,  "  No,  thank  you."  Oh,  may  God  dcliAcr 
us  from  the  fiishionable  stifihess  and  artificial  nonsense.  May  he  revive 
in  us  the  reality  both  of  nature  and  grace,  so  that  Ave  may  come  to  his 
table  of  love  Avith  a  good  appetite.  Modern  Christians  remind  me  of  our 
Ijoyish  days,  Avhen  aa'c  Avent  to  bathe  in  the  sea,  and  used  to  dip  our  toes 
in  the  waves,  instead  of  taking  a  plunge  head  first.  I  am  sure  that  to 
plunge  right  in  is  the  best  way  Avith  religion.  ThroAV  your  whole  soul 
into  it,  and  alloAv  the  glorious  waves  of  CA'crlasting  love  to  go  right  over 
your  head,  and  then  dive  and  SAvim  in  that  sea  which  is  bottomless,  and 
rejoice  in  the  Lord  with  all  your  heart.  But  this  mere  dabbfing  about 
Avith  goody-goody  goodliness,  instead  of  the  grand  old  godliness,  makes 
professors  all  of  a  shiver,  and  they  stand  in  doubt,  as  though  they  hardly 
liked  it,  and  Avould  rather  get  back  to  the  Avorld  and  put  on  their  old 
clothes  again,  only  they  are  half  afraid  to  do  so.  Oh,  may  the  Lord  giAe 
us  to  come  Avith  all  our  needs  to  him — to  come  to  him  ibr  everything, 
and  to  come  determined  to  have  everything  that  is  to  be  had,  and  to  go 
in  for  it  thoroughly  by  God's  grace.  That  is  the  way  to  come  to  Christ. 
IIL  There  remains  one  other  question — avhat  is  the  best  way 
TO  COME  AFTERAVARDS  ?  The  auswcr  is, — Come  just  as  you  used  to 
come.  Brethren  and  sisters,  the  text  does  not  say  that  you  /lave  come  to 
Christ,  though  thai  is  true,  but  that  you  ai-e  coming ;  and  you  arc  to  be 
always  coming.  The  Avay  to  continue  coming  Ib  to  come  just  in  the  same 
way  as  you  came  at  first.  I  have  many  things  to  say  about  this,  but  my 
time  has  gone,  and  therefore  I  will  not  enlarge,  but  I  will  only  put  them 
thus  in  lirief     I  am  persuaded  that  the  only  happy,  the  only  safe  Avay  for 


COMING — ALWAYS  COMlNQ.  47 

a  Christian  to  live  is  to  live  in  daily  dependence   upon    the  mercy 

of  God  in  Jesus  Christ,  just  as  he  did  Avhen  he  was  a  babe  in  grace  and 

a  stone  newly  drawn  from  the  quarry  of  nature.     I  know  what  it  is  to 

build  up  a  nice  structure  of  my  own  experience  on  the  foundation  of 

Christ,  and  to  climb  upon  it,  instead  of  standing  on  the  foundation.     If 

you  were  ever  on  the  top  of  Snowdon,  or  some  other  high  mountain,  you 

will  have  noticed  that  to  make  the  standing  a  little  higher  they  put  up 

some  wooden  scaffold  or  other,  some  ten  or  twelve  feet  of  platform,  to 

increase  the  elevation,  and  then  everybody  wants  to  get  up  on  that  plat-  y 

form.     "Well,  now,  I  have  built  my  little  platform  on  Christ.    My  own 

experience  has  made  a  very  handsome  erection,  I  can  tell  you.     I  have 

felt,  "  Well,  I  know  this  and  that  and  the  other  by  experience,"  and  I 

have  been  quite  exalted.      Sometimes,  too,  I  have  built  a  platform 

of  good  works — "  I  have  done  something  for  Christ  after  all."     Ths 

proud  flesh  says,  "  Oh  yes,  you  really  have  performed  something  you 

might  talk  about  if  you  liked."     Self-confidence  has  piled  my  platform 

up  and  it  has  been  a  very  respectable  looking  concern,  and  I  have  asked 

a  few  friends  up.     But,  do  you  know  what  has  occun'ed  ?    Why,  I  have 

felt  my  platform  shake.     It   began  to  tremble.     Stress  of  weather  had 

rotted  the  beams,  and  the  supports  have  begun  to  give  way,  and  I  have 

seen  all  my  building  tumble  down,  and  I  have  gone  down  with  it ;  and 

as  I  have  gone  down  with  it  I  have  thought, "  It  is  all  over  with  me  now. 

I  am  going  crash  down,  I  do  not  know  how  far,  but  perhaps  I  shaU  fiill 

to  the  bottom  of  the  mountain"     Instead  of  that  I  alighted  on  the  top 

of  the  mountain.     I  did  not  fall  very  far,  but  came  right  down  where  it 

had  been  most  sensible  of  me  if  I  had  always  kept,  namely,  on  terra 

firma,  down  on  the  solid  earth.    I  have  noticed  that  a  great  many  of  my 

brethren  have  been  lately    building    some    very   pretty  little  wooden 

structures  on  the  top  of  Jesus  Christ.     I  think  they  call  them  "  the 

higher  life,"  if  I  rightly  recollect  the  name.    I  do  not  know  of  any  life 

that  is  higher  than  that  of  simple  faith  in  Jesus  Christ.     As  far  as  I  am 

concerned,  the  highest  life  for  me  out  of  heaven  is  the  life  of  a  poor 

publican  saying,  "  God  be  merciful  to  me  a   sinner."     ]\Iy  very  good 

friends  are  not  content  with  this  position,  though  he  who  keeps  it  goes 

to  his  house  justified  more  than  boasters.    Some  friends  built  very  high 

a  little  while  ago,  I  thought  they  would  soon  reach  the  moon,  but  certain 

of  them  went  down  in  a  very  ugly  way,  I  have  heard,  and  I  am  afraid 

some  more  will  go  down  if  they  do  not  mind  what  they  are  at.    Give  up 

building  these  artificial  elevations :  give  up  resting  on  them ;  and  just 

stand  on  the  level  of  Christ's  finished  work,  the  blood  of  Christ  for 

sinners  shed ;  the  righteousness  of  Christ  to  sinners  imputed.    Be  yours 

the  humble  plea —         ,,-r  .-,      t  r-   r  • 

^  "1  the  chiei  oi  sinners  am, 

But  Jesus  died  for  me." 

He  that  is  down  there  will  never  fall,  and  he  who  keeps  there  is  really 
as  high  up  as  the  man  who  thinks  he  is  all  aloft ;  for  all  above  living 
by  faith  in  Christ  is  mere  dream  and  moonshine.  There  is  nothing 
higher,  after  all,  than  just  being  nobody,  and  Christ  being  everybody, 
and  singing  with  poor  Jack,  the  huckster, 

"  I'm  a  poor  sinner,  and  nothing  at  all, 
But  Jesua  Christ  is  my  all  in  all." 


48  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE  PULPIT. 

If  yon  grow  till  you  are  less  than  nothing:,  you  are  full  grown,  but  few 
have  reached  that  stage  ;  and  if  you  grow'till  Christ  is  everything  to  you, 
you  are  in  yoiu-  prime  ;  but,  alas,  how  far  short  of  this  do  most  men  fall ! 
The  Lord  bring  you  to  that  highest  of  all  growths— to  be  daily  coming 
to  Christ ;  always  empty  in  yourself,  but  full  in  him ;  always  weak  in 
yourself,  but  strong  in  him  ;  always  nothing  in  self,  but  Christ  your  per- 
petual all  in  all !  The  Lord  keep  you  there,  brothers  and  sisters,  and  he 
will  have  praise  and  glory  of  you,  both  now  and  for  ever.    Amen. 


Portion  of  Scripture  read  before  Sermon — I  Peter  ii.  1 — 16. 


Hymns  from  "  Our  Own  Hymn  Book  "—795,  606  ;  and  "  0  Cbrifit 
what  burdens  bowed  thy  head  " — 44  Sankey. 


p;^ft[0plte  Sakmatk  ftilpit, 


YOUR  PERSONAL  SALTATION. 


Deliverei/  on  Lord's-Day  Morning,  February  22nd,  1880,  ey 

C.    H.   SPURGEON. 

AT  THE  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE,  NEWINGTON. 


"Receiving  the  end  of  your  faith,  oven  the  salvation  of  your  souls.  Of  which  salvation 
the  prophets  have  enquired  and  searched  diligently,  -who  prophesied  of  the  grace 
that  should  come  unto  you:  searching  what,  or  what  manner  of  time  the  Spirit  of 
Christ  which  was  in  them  did  signify,  when  it  testified  beforehand  the  sufferings 
of  Christ,  and  the  glory  that  should  follow.  Unto  whom  it  was  revealed,  that  not 
unto  themselves,  but  unto  us  they  did  minister  the  things,  which  are  now  reported 
unto  you  by  them  that  have  preached  the  gespel  unto  you  with  the  Holy  Ghost  sent 
down  from  heaven ;  which  things  the  angels  desire  to  look  into." — 1  Peter  i.  9 — 12. 

"  Let  thy  mercies  come  also  unto  me,  0  Lord,  even  thy  salvation,  according  to  thy 
■word." — Psalm  cxix,  il. 

There  two  texts  will  be  to  me  as  a  bow  and  a  sword :  the  first  for 
shooting  the  arrows  of  truth,  and  the  second  for  close  quarters  in 
dealing  with  individual  consciences.  You  will  see  the  reason  for  the 
pair  of  texts  as  we  proceed.  May  the  Holy  Spirit  make  use  of  both 
according  to  his  own  mind . 

Last  Sabbath-day  I  discoursed  upon  the  God  of  salvation :  this  morn- 
ing our  principal  object  is  to  speak  of  that  salvation  itself.  I  then  tried 
to  show  that  God  is  always  the  same,  and  that  the  God  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, unto  whom  belongeth  the  issues  from  death,  is  the  God  of  our 
salvation  still.  My  first  text  runs  upon  the  same  line,  for  it  teaches  us  that 
the  prophets  of  old,  who  spoke  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  testified 
concerning  the  same  salvation  which  has  been  reported  to  us  by  the 
apostles  as  actually  accomplished.  There  has  been  no  new  salvation,- 
there  has  been  a  change  in  the  messengers,  but  they  have  all  spoken  ol 
one  thing ;  and,  though  their  tidings  have  been  more  clearly  understood 
in  these  latter  days,  the  substance  of  the  good  news  is  still  the  same. 
The  Old  Testament  and  the  New  are  one,  inspired  by  the  same  Spirit, 
and  filled  with  the  same  subject,  namely,  the  one  promised  JMessiah.  The 
prophets  foretold  what  the  apostles  reported.  The  seers  looked  forward, 
and  the  evangelists  look  backward  :  their  eyes  meet  at  one  place  ;  they 
Bee  eye  to  eye,  and  both  behold  the  cross. 

I  shall  aim  this  morning  at  commending  the  salvation  of  God  to 
*.hose  of  you  who  possess  it,  that  you  may  be  the  more  grateful  for  your 
^0.  1,52  i. 


122  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE  PULPIT. 

choice  inheritance  ;  and  still  more  shall  I  labour  to  commend  it  to  those 
who  possess  it  not,  that  having  some  idea  of  the  greatness  of  its  value 
they  may  be  stirred  up  to  seek  it  for  themselves.  Ah,  my  unsaved 
hearers,  how  great  is  your  loss  in  missing  the  salvation  of  God !  "  How 
shall  you  escape  if  you  neglect  so  great  salvation  ?  "  0  that  you  might  be 
rescued  from  such  fully  !  Perhaps  God  the  Holy  Spirit  will  show  you 
the  preciousness  of  this  salvation,  and  then  you  will  no  longer  neglect, 
despise,  or  refuse  it,  but  will  offer  the  prayer  which  I  have  selected  as  a 
sort  of  second  text,  and  entreat  the  Lord  to  let  his  mercies  come  to  you, 
even  his  salvation.  The  prayer  may  be  helpful  in  enabling  you  to  take 
with  you  words  and  turn  unto  the  Lord.     God  grant  it  may  be  so ! 

First,  I  shall  in  much  simplicity,  with  a  vehement  desire  for  the 
immediate  conviction  and  salvation  of  my  hearers,  try  to  commend  the 
SALVATION  OF  GoD  by  Opening  up  what  Peter  has  said  in  the  verses 
before  us. 

Let  me  urge  you  to  give  earnest  heed  to  the  salvation  of  God,  because 
it  is  a  salvation  of  grace.  The  tenth  verse  says,  "  Of  which  salvation 
the  prophets  have  enquired  and  searched  diligently,  who  prophesied  of 
the  grace  that  should  come  unto  you"  Salvation  is  altogether  of  grace, 
grace  which  comes  from  God  in  his  mercy  to  man  in  his  helplessness. 
The  gospel  does  not  come  to  you  asking  something  of  you,  but  its  hands 
are  laden  with  gifts  more  precious  than  gold,  which  it  freely  bestows 
upon  guilty  men.  It  comes  to  us,  not  as  a  reward  for  the  obedient  and 
deserving,  but  as  a  merciful  boon  for  the  disobedient  and  undeserving. 
It  treats  with  us,  not  upon  the  ground  of  justice,  but  upon  terms  of  pure 
mercy.  It  asks  no  price  and  exacts  no  purchase ;  it  comes  as  a  benefactor, 
not  as  a  judge.  In  the  gospel  God  giveth  liberally  and  upbraideth  not. 
We  are  accustomed  not  only  to  say  "  grace,"  but  "  free  grace."  It  has 
been  remarked  that  this  is  a  tautology.  So  it  is,  but  it  is  a  blessed 
one,  for  it  makes  the  meaning  doubly  clear  and  leaves  no  room  for 
mistake.  Since  it  is  evidently  objectionable  to  those  who  dislike  the 
doctrine  intended,  it  is  manifestly  forcible,  and  therefore  w^e  will  keep 
to  it.  We  feel  no  compunction  in  ringing  such  a  silver  bell  twice 
over — grace,  free  grace.  Lest  any  should  inuigiue  that  grace  can  be 
otherwise  than  free,  we  shall  continue  to  say,  not  only  grace,  but  free 
grace,  so  long  as  Ave  preach.  You  are  lust,  my  dear  hearer,  and 
God  proposes  your  salvation,  but  not  on  any  ground  of  your  deserving 
to  be  saved,  else  would  the  proposal  most  assuredly  fall  to  the  ground 
in  the  case  of  many  of  you :  I  might  have  said  in  the  cases  of  us  all, 
though  some  of  you  think  not  so.  The  Lord  proposes  to  save  you  because 
you  are  miserable  and  he  is  merciful;  because  you  are  necessitous 
and  he  is  bountiful.  AVhy,  methinks  every  man  who  hears  this  good 
news  should  open  both  his  ears,  and  lean  furward,  that  he  may  not  lose 
a  word.  Yes,  and  he  should  open  his  heart,  too  ;  for  salvation  by  grace 
is  most  suitable  to  all  men,  and  they  need  it  greatly.  Only  give  intima- 
tion that  goods  are  to  be  had  gratis,  and  your  shop  will  be  besieged  with 
customers.  Those  who  want  us  to  notice  their  wares  are  often  crafty 
enough  to  put  at  the  head  of  their  advertisement  what  is  nut  true,  ''To  be 
given  away  " :  but  salvation's  grand  advertisement  is  true ;  salvation  is 
everything  for  nothing :  pardon  free,  Cluist  free,  lieaven  free.  "  Come. 
buy    ^ine   and  milk  without  money  and  without  price."     Our  good 


YOUR   TEESONAL   SALVATION.  123 

Physician  has  none  bnfc  gratis  patients.  Since  the  boons  which  the  God 
of  all  grace  grants  to  sinful  men  are  beyond  all  price,  he  does  not  barter 
and  chaffer  with  them,  but  makes  his  blessings  free  as  air.  I  am  sure  that 
if  you  feel  yourselves  to  be  guilty,  the  very  idea  of  being  saved  by  grace 
will  have  a  charm  for  you.  To  a  thirsty  man  the  sound  of  a  rippling 
stream  is  music,  and  to  a  convinced  conscience  free  pardon  is  as  rivers  of 
water  in  the  wilderness.  Oh,  that  all  the  world  would  listen  when  we 
have  such  a  message  to  tell. 

Again,  your  closest  attention  may  well  be  asked  to  the  salvation  of 
God  when  you  are  told  in  the  text  that  it  is  hy  faith.  "  Eeceiving  the 
end  of  your  faith,  even  the  salvation  of  your  souls."  Salvation  is  not 
obtained  by  penances,  painful  and  humiliating:  nor  by  despondency  and 
despair ;  nor  by  any  effort,  mental  or  spiritual,  involving  a  purchase  by 
labour  and  pain ;  but  entirely  and  alone  by  faith,  or  trust,  in  the  Lord 
Jesus.  Do  you  ask — is  it  so,  that  salvation  is  by  believing,  simply 
believing  ?  Such  is  the  statement  of  the  word  of  God.  We  proclaim  it 
upon  the  warrant  of  infallible  Scripture.  "  All  that  believe  are  justified 
from  all  things  from  which  they  could  not  be  justified  by  the  law  of 
Moses."  "  Whosoever  believeth  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ  is  born  of  God." 
"  He  that  believeth  in  him  is  not  condemned."  "  He  that  believeth  on 
him  hath  everlasting  life."  These  are  a  mere  handful  of  proof  texts 
gleaned  from  wide  fields  of  the  like  kind.  "  Eepent  ye  and  believe  the 
gospel,"  is  our  one  plain  and  simple  message.  We  cry  again  and  again, 
"  Believe  in  the  Lord  J  esus  Christ,  and  thou  shalt  be  saved."  *'  Believe 
only,"  and  "Jesus  only,"  are  our  two  watchwords.  Now,  it  is  singularly 
foolish  that  men  should  cavil  at  this  which  ought  to  please  them.  The 
very  simplicity  of  faith  they  cavil  at.  What,  shall  it  be  so,  that  the 
gospel  shall  be  regarded  as  too  easy  a  thing  ?  Will  men  quarrel  with 
mercy  for  being  too  generous'  to  them  ?  If  there  be  a  condition,  is  it 
wisdom  on  our  part  to  contend  with  God  because  that  condition  seems  to 
be  too  slight  ?  What  would  you  have  for  a  condition  ?  Would  you  have 
it  proclaimed  that  men  must  be  saved  by  works  ?  Which  among  you 
would  then  be  saved  ?  Your  works  are  imperfect  and  full  of  evil.  The 
law  cannot  justify  you,  it  condemns  you.  As  long  as  you  are  under  the 
law  hath  not  the  Holy  Spirit  declared  that  you  are  under  the  curse  ?  Ought 
ye  not,  ye  sons  ot  men,  to  bless  God  that  salvation  is  of  faith  that  it  might 
be  by  grace,  and  that  it  might  be  possible  to  you,  and  sure  to  all  the  seed  ? 
The  sinner  cannot  keep  the  law  of  God ;  he  has  already  broken  it  most 
terribly,  and  he  is  himself  enfeebled  and  depraved  by  the  fall.  Adam 
did  not  stand  when  he  was  in  his  perfection ;  what  shall  we  do  who  are 
ruined  by  his  fall,  and  full  of  evil  ?  By  the  grace  of  God  the  sinner 
can  believe  in  Jesus :  this  is  ceasing  from  his  own  power  and  merit, 
and  leaving  himself  in  his  Saviour's  hands.  Salvation  by  faith  thus 
sets  an  open  door  before  those  whom  the  law  shuts  out ;  it  ie  in  every 
way  adapted  to  the  case  of  the  guilty  and  fallen,  and  such  characters 
should  hasten  to  accept  salvation  thus  presented  to  them.  0  my  God, 
how  is  it  that  this  message  does  not  at  once  arouse  all  who  hear  it  to  an 
eager  acceptance  of  thy  salvation?  0  that  the  Spirit  of  God  would 
make  these  appeals  powerful  with  you ! 

The  gospel  of  salvation  ought   to  be  regarded  by  you,  for  it  has 
mgrosHcd  the  thoughts  of  prophets.     The  text  says,  "  Of  which  salvation 


124  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE  PDL?rr. 

the  prophets  have  enquired  and  searched  dih'gently,  who  prophesied  of 
the  grace  that  should  come  unto  you."  Those  gi-eat  men,  the  choice 
spirits  of  the  ages  which  they  adorned,  were  dehghted  to  preach  of  this 
salvation  as  a  blessing  to  be  hereafter  revealed.  They  did  not  them- 
selves altogether  understand  what  they  were  called  to  reveal,  for  the  Holy 
Spirit  often  carried  them  beyond  themselves  and  made  them  utter  more 
than  they  understood.  The  inspiration  of  the  Bible  is  verbal  inspira- 
tion. In  some  cases  it  must  have  been  only  verbal  ;  in  every  case  it 
must  have  been  mainly  so.  The  human  mind  is  not  able  to  under- 
stand and  to  express  all  the  thoughts  of  God,  they  are  too  sublime  ;  and 
therefore  God  dictated  to  the  prophets  the  very  language  which  they 
should  deliver, — language  of  which  they  themselves  could  not  see  the  far- 
reaching  meaning.  They  rejoiced  in  the  testimony  of  the  Spirit  within 
them,  but  they  were  not  free  from  the  necessity  to  search,  and  to  search 
diligently  if  they  would  for  themselves  derive  benefit  from  the  divine 
revelation.  I  know  not  how  this  is,  but  the  fact  is  clearly  stated  in  the 
text,  and  must  be  true.  Oh,  my  hearers,  how  diligently  you  ought  to 
search  the  Scriptures  and  listen  to  the  saving  word  !  If  men  that  had 
the  Holy  Ghost,  and  were  called  "  seers,"  nevertheless  searched  into  the 
meaning  of  the  word  which  they  themselves  spoke,  what  ought  such 
poor  things  as  we  are  to  do  in  order  to  understand  the  gospel  ?  It  should 
be  our  delight  to  read,  mark,  learn,  and  inwardly  digest  the  doctrines 
of  grace.  Surely  it  must  be  a  crime  of  crimes  to  be  living  in  utter  neglect 
of  a  salvation  which  gained  the  attentive  mind  of  Daniel,  and  Isaiah, 
and  Ezekiel.  0  that  the  long  list  of  great  and  holy  men  would  have  some 
weight  with  thoughtless  ones.  I  would  cause  a  noble  line  of  prophets 
to  pass  before  you  this  morning  that  you  may  see  how  many  of  them 
spake  of  Christ  and  his  salvation.  From  Abel,  whose  blood  cried  from 
the  ground,  down  to  him  who  spake  of  the  Sun  of  righteousness  as  near 
his  rising,  they  all  spoke  in  Jehovah's  name  for  your  sakes.  From  Moses 
down  to  Malachi,  all  of  these  lived,  and  many  of  them  died,  that  they 
might  bear  witness  to  "the  grace  which  is  come  unto  you."  They  them- 
selves were,  no  doubt  saved  ;  but,  still,  the  full  understanding  and  enjoy- 
ment of  the  truth  was  reserved  for  us.  Unto  them  it  was  revealed,  that 
not  unto  themselves,  but  unto  us,  they  did  minister  the  things  of  God. 
They  lighted  lamps  which  shine  for  future  ages  ;  they  told  of  a  Christ 
who  v/as  actually  to  come  in  the  latter  days,  to  work  out  his  redemption 
after  they  had  all  died  in  faith  without  a  sight  of  his  actual  coming.  You 
and  I  live  in  the  light  of  a  finished  salvation.  God  has  appeared  in  human 
flesh ;  Christ  has  borne  the  guilt  of  man ;  his  atonement  is  completed.  Jesus 
has  risen  from  the  dead  and  gone  into  the  glory,  pleading  for  believers. 
Surely  that  which  prophets  thought  it  worth  their  while  to  study  by  night 
and  by  day,  though  they  knew  that  they  should  never  sec  it,  ought  to  be 
thought  worthy  of  the  devout  attention  of  those  immediately  concerned 
in  it.  If  Daniel  set  his  face  by  prayer  and  study,  in  festing  and  in 
loneliness,  to  search  out  the  salvation  of  the  future,  we  ought  at  once  to 
seek  for  the  salvation  Avhich  is  now  present  among  us.  If  Isaiah  spake 
with  golden  tongue,  as  the  very  Chrysostom  of  the  old  dispensation ;  if 
Jeremiah  wept,  like  a  Niobc,  rivers  of  tears;  if  Ezekiel,  despite  the 
splendour  of  his  princely  intellect,  was  almost  blinded  by  the  splendour 
of  his  visions — if  the  whole  goodly  fellowship  of  the  prophets  lived 


TOUR  PERGONAL  SALVATION.  125 

and  died  to  study  and  to  foretell  the  great  salvation,  vre  ought  to  give 
most  earnest  heed  to  it.  If  they  pointed  us  to  the  Lamb  of  God,  and 
according  to  the  best  of  their  light  foretold  the  coming  of  the  Redeemer, 
then  woe  unto  us  if  we  trifle  with  heaven's  message,  and  cast  its  blessings 
behind  our  backs.  By  all  the  prophets  whom  the  Lord  has  sent,  I 
beseech  you,  give  his  salvation  a  hearty  welcome,  and  rejoice  that  you 
have  lived  to  see  it. 

Furthermore,  when  prophecy  had  ceased,  the  Holy  Spirit  came  upon 
another  set  of  men  of  whom  our  text  speaks.  Peter  says  of  these  things, 
that  they  "  are  now  reported  unto  you  by  them  that  have  preached  the 
gospel  unto  you  with  the  Holy  Ghost  sent  down  from  heaven."  The 
apostles  foUmued  the  prophets  in  testi/i/ing  to  this  salvation,  and  with 
the  apostles  there  was  an  honourable  fellowship  of  earnest  evangelists 
and  preachers.  I  will  not  stay  to  point  out  to  you  the  admirable  charac- 
ter of  these  men,  but  I  would  beg  you  to  observe  that,  having  seen  Christ 
Jesus  for  themselves  personally,  they  were  not  deceived.  Many  of  them 
had  eaten  and  drank  with  him  :  all  the  apostles  had  done  so  :  they  had 
been  with  him  in  familiar  intercourse,  and  they  were  resolute  in  bearing 
witness  that  they  had  seen  him  after  he  had  risen  from  the  dead.  These 
men  spake  with  the  accent  of  conviction.  If  they  were  duped,  there 
certainly  never  was  another  instance  of  such  persons,  and  so  many  of 
them,  being  so  utterly  deluded.  They  continued  throughout  all  their 
lives  to  bear  hardships  and  to  endure  reproaches  for  the  sake  of  bearing 
witness  to  what  they  had  seen  and  heard,  and  all  the  apostles  but  one 
died  a  martyr's  death  rather  than  allow  the  slightest  suspicion  to  be  cast 
upon  the  truth  of  their  report.  The  text  says  that  they  reported  these 
things  when  they  preached  the  gospel  with  the  Holy  Ghost  sent  down 
from  heaven,  I  see  them  going  everywhere  preaching  the  word,  dressed 
in  no  robes  but  those  of  poverty,  having  no  distinctions  but  those  of 
shame  and  suffering,  no  power  but  that  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  I  hear  them 
fearlessly  lifting  up  their  voices  among  a  warrior  population,  or  gently 
testifying  in  peaceful  homes:  they  evangelize  the  open  country,  they 
instruct  the  capital  itself,  Caesar's  household  hears  of  them.  I  see  them 
far  away  among  the  Parthians  and  Scythians,  telling  the  barbarians  that 
there  is  salvation,  and  that  Jesus  has  accomplished  it.  With  equal  joy 
I  see  them  telling  cultured  Greeks  that  God  was  in  Christ,  a  man  among 
men,  and  that  the  incarnate  God  died  in  man's  stead  that  believing  men 
might  be  delivered  from  the  wrath  of  God,  and  from  the  plague  of  sin. 
These  noble  bearers  of  glad  tidings  continued  to  report  this  salvation  till 
they  had  finished  their  missions  and  theii'  lives,  and  therefore  I  feel  that 
for  us  in  these  times  to  trifle  with  God's  word,  and  give  a  deaf  ear  to  the 
invitations  of  the  gospel,  is  an  insult  to  their  honoured  memories.  You 
martyr  them  a  second  time  by  contemptuously  neglecting  what  they  died 
to  hand  to  you.  From  the  dead  they  bear  witness  against  you,  and 
when  they  rise  again  they  will  sit  with  their  Lord  to  judge  you. 

Nor  have  we  merely  prophets  and  apostles  looking  on  with  wonder, 
but  our  text  says,  "  Which  things  the  angels  desire  to  look  into."  We 
know  very  little  of  these  heavenly  beings :  we  know,  however,  that  they 
are  pure  spirits,  and  that  the  elect  angels  have  not  fallen  into  sin. 
These  beings  are  not  concerned  in  the  atonement  of  Christ  so  far  as  it 
is  a  ransom  for  sin,  seeing  they  have  never  transgressed :  they  may, 


126  METROPOLITAN!  TABEUNACLE  PULPIT. 

however,  derire  some  advantage  from  his  death,  bat  of  that  we  cannot  now 
speak  particularly.  They  take  such  an  interest  in  us,  their  fellow 
creatures,  that  they  have  an  intense  wish  to  know  all  the  mysteries  of  our 
salvation.  They  were  pictured,  you  know,  upon  the  ark  of  the  covenant, 
as  standing  upon  the  mercy-seat,  and  looking  down  upon  it  with  steady 
gaze.  Perhaps  Peter  was  thinking  of  this  holy  imagery.  They  stand 
intently  gazing  into  the  marvel  of  Propitiation  by  blood.  Can  you  quite 
see  the  beauty  of  this  spectacle  ?  If  we  knew  that  a  door  was  opened  in 
heaven,  would  not  men  be  anxious  to  look  in  and  see  heaven's  wonders  ; 
but  the  case  is  here  reversed,  for  we  see  a  window  opened  towards  this 
fallen  world,  and  heavenly  beings  looking  down  upon  the  earth,  as  if 
heaven,  it.self  had  no  such  object  of  attraction  as  Christ  and  his  salvation. 
Watts  sang  not  amiss  when  he  gave  us  the  verse — 

"  Archangels  leave  their  high  abode 
To  learn  new  mysteries  here,  and  tell 
The  love  of  our  descending  God, 
The  glories  of  Iminanuel." 

Paul  tells  us  that  to  principalities  and  powers  in  the  heavenly  places 
shall  be  made  known  by  the  church  the  manifold  wisdom  of  God. 
For  men  to  be  lessons  to  angels,  books  for  seraphs  to  read,  is  a  strange 
fact.  Perhaps  the  angelic  enquirers  ask  such  questions  as  this  :  How  is 
God  just,  and  yet  the  justifier  of  the  ungodly  ?  At  first  it  must  have 
been,  I  think,  a  wonder  that  he  who  said,  "  In  the  day  thou  eatest 
thereof  thou  shalt  surely  die,"  could  have  permitted  man  to  live  on  and 
to  have  a  hope  of  eternal  life.  How  could  he  who  saith  that  he  will  by 
no  means  clear  the  guilty  yet  bestow  his  favours  upon  guilty  men? 
Angels  wonder  as  they  see  how,  through  the  substitution  of  Jesus  Christ, 
God  can  be  sternly  just  and  yet  abundantly  gracious  ;  but  while  they 
learn  this  they  long  to  discover  more  of  the  truth  wrapped  up  in  tlie 
one  great  sacrifice  :  they  peer  and  pry,  and  search  and  consider,  and 
hence  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel  are  spoken  of  as  "  things  which  the 
angels  desire  to  look  into."  Now,  think  you  if  these  glorious  spirits  who 
needed  not  to  be  redeemed,  yet  intently  gaze  upon  the  Redeemer,  should 
not  we  also  desire  to  look  into  the  mysteries  of  his  death  ?  0  men  and 
women,  is  it  nothing  to  you  that  the  Son  of  God  should  give  his  life  a 
ransom  for  many?  If  these  spotless  ones  marvel  at  that  sacred  bath  of 
blood  by  which  sin  is  washed  away,  will  not  you,  who  are  covered  with 
defilement,  stop  a  while  to  see  the  Lord  whose  flowing  veins  afford  such 
purging?  Methinks,  if  I  saw  an  angel  intently  gazing  upon  any  object, 
if  I  were  a  passer  by,  I  should  stop  and  look  too.  Have  you  never 
noticed  in  the  streets  that  if  one  person  stands  still  and  looks  up,  or 
is  occupied  with  gazing  into  a  shop  window,  others  become  curious 
and  look  also?  I  would  enlist  that  fiiculty  of  curiosity  which  is  within 
every  man,  and  prompt  you  to  search  with  the  angels  as  they  pry  into 
the  underlying  meaning  of  the  fact  and  doctrine  of  atonement?  They 
stand  at  the  cross-foot  ravished,  astounded :  yea,  all  heaven  to  this  day 
has  never  ceased  its  amazement  at  the  dying  Son  of  God,  made  sin 
for  men,  and  will  none  of  you  spare  an  hour  to  look  this  way  and 
Bee  your  best  Friend?  Shall  it  be  that  time  out  of  mind  we  must 
come  into  our  pulpits  and  talk  of  Christ  to  deaf  ears,  and  speak  to 


TOUR  PERSONAL  SALVATION.  127 

onr  fellow  men  about  the  grace  which  is  brought  unto  them,  to  find 
that  they  treat  it  as  an  old  wives'  fable,  or  a  story  with  which  they 
have  nothing  to  do?  Ah,  my  careless  hearer,  I  wish  you  were  in 
the  same  plight  as  I  was  in  once,  when  I  was  burdened  with  a  sense  ol 
my  transgressions.  If  you  felt  as  I  did,  you  would  catch  at  that  word 
"grace"  right  eagerly,  and  be  delighted  with  the  promise  made  to 
"faith."  You  would  make  up  your  mind  that  if  prophets  searched 
out  salvation,  if  apostles  reported  it,  if  angels  longed  to  know  it,  you 
yourself  would  find  it,  or  perish  in  searching  after  it.  Do  you  forget 
that  you  must  have  eternal  life,  or  you  are  undone  for  ever  ?  Do  not 
trifle  with  your  eternal  interests !  Do  not  be  careless  where  earth  and 
heaven  are  in  earnest !  Prophets,  apostles,  angels,  all  beckon  you  to 
seek  the  Lord.  Awake,  thou  that  sleepest.  Arise,  0  sluggish  soul !  A 
thousand  voices  call  thee  to  bestir  thyself,  and  receive  the  grace  which 
has  come  unto  thee. 

We  have  already  gone  a  long  way  with  this  text,  rising  step  by  step. 
We  have  stood  where  angels  gaze ;  now  behold  another  wonder :  we  rise 
beyond  them  to  the  angels'  Master.  Christ  is  the  substance  of  this  sal- 
vation. For  what  saith  the  text  ?  The  prophets  spake  "  beforehand  of 
the  sufferings  of  Christ  and  the  glory  that  should  follow."  Ah,  there  is 
the  point.  To  save  men  Jesus  suffered.  The  manhood  and  the  Godhead 
of  Christ  endured  anguish  inconceivable.  All  through  his  life  our  Lord 
was  "  a  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with  grief."  His  was  the  bravest 
heart  that  ever  lived,  and  the  gentlest  spirit  that  ever  breathed,  but  the 
most  crushed  and  down-trodden.  He  went  from  one  end  of  our  heavens 
to  the  other  like  a  cloud  of  sympathy,  dropping  showers  of  blessing.  All 
the  trials  of  his  people  he  carried  in  his  heart,  and  all  their  sins  pressed 
heavily  upon  his  soul :  his  daily  burden  of  care  for  all  his  people  was 
such  as  none  can  sympathize  with  to  the  full,  even  though  like  him  they 
have  kept  the  flock  of  God.  I  have  sometimes  had  intense  sympathy  with 
Moses, — I  hope  I  am  not  egotistical  in  comparing  small  things  with 
great, — when  he  cried,  "  Wherefore  hast  thou  afflicted  thy  servant  ?  and 
wherefore  have  I  not  found  favour  in  thy  sight,  that  thou  layest  the 
burden  of  all  this  people  upon  me  ?  Have  I  conceived  all  this  people  ? 
have  I  begotten  them,  that  thou  shouldest  say  unto  me.  Carry  them  in 
thy  bosom,  as  a  nursing  father  beareth  the  sucking  child,  unto  the  land 
which  thou  swarest  unto  their  fathers  ?  I  am  not  able  to  bear  all  this 
people  alone,  because  it  is  too  heavy  for  me."  But  what  was  the  care  of 
the  tribes  in  the  wilderness  on  Moses'  heart  compared  with  the  myriads 
upon  myriads  that  lay  upon  the  heart  of  Christ,  a  perpetual  burden  to 
his  spirit  ? 

The  sufferings  of  his  life  must  never  be  forgotten,  but  they  were  con- 
summated by  the  agonies  of  his  death.  There  was  never  such  a  death. 
Physically,  it  was  equal  in  pain  to  the  sufferings  of  any  of  the 
martyrs ;  but  its  peculiarity  of  excessive  gi'ief  did  not  lie  in  his  bodily 
sufferings :  his  soul-sufferings  were  the  soul  of  his  sufferings.  Martyrs 
are  sustained  by  the  presence  of  their  God,  but  Jesus  cried,  "  My  God, 
my  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me?"  That  cry  never  came  up  from 
the  stakes  of  Sraithfield,  or  from  the  agonies  of  the  Spanish  auto-da-fe, 
for  God  was  with  his  witnesses  :  but  he  was  not  with  Christ.  Here  was 
the  depth  of  his  woe.    Now,  I  pray  you,  if  you  will  manifest  some  sign 


128  METROPOLITAN   TABERNACLE   PULPIT. 

of  thou  gilt  and  softness,  remember  that  if  the  Son  of  God  became  a  man 
that  he  might  suffer  to  the  death  for  men,  it  is  hard  that  men  should  turn 
(leaf  ears  to  the  salvation  which  he  accomplished.  I  hear  from  his  cross 
his  sad  complaint,  "  Is  it  nothing  to  you,  all  ye  that  pass  by  ?  Behold, 
and  see  if  there  was  ever  sorrow  like  unto  my  sorrow,  which  is  done  unto 
me."  Oh,  if  you  are  born  of  woman,  and  have  a  heart  that  has  any 
flesh  about  it,  think  well  of  the  salvation,  "  the  grace,  which  is  brought 
unto  you,"  by  the  sufferings  of  the  Son  of  God. 

One  other  step  remains.  It  cannot  be  higher ;  it  is  on  the  same  level, 
and  I  beseech  you  to  stand  upou  it  and  think  a  while,  you  that  have 
thought  so  little  of  yourselves  and  of  your  God.  It  is  this.  The  Hohj 
Ghost  is  the  ivitness  to  all  this.  It  was  the  Holy  Ghost  that  spake  in 
the  prophets ;  it  was  the  Holy  Ghost  who  was  with  those  who  reported 
the  gospel  at  the  first ;  it  is  the  same  Holy  Spirit  who  every  day  bears 
witness  to  Christ.  Do  you  not  know  that  we  have  miracles  in  the  Christian 
church  still  ?  Scoffers  come  to  us  and  say,  "  Woi-k  a  miracle,  and  we 
will  believe  you."  We  do  work  these  miracles  every  day.  Had  you  been 
present  at  a  meeting  held  here  last  month  you  would  have  heard  some- 
thing not  far  short  of  one  hundred  persons  one  after  another  assert  that 
by  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  in  this  place  lately  their  lives  have  been 
completely  changed.  In  the  case  of  some  of  these  the  change  is  very 
obvious  to  all  persons  acquainted  with  them.  How  was  this  great  change 
achieved  ?  By  the  Holy  Spirit  through  the  gospel  of  your  salvation. 
But  I  need  not  quote  those  special  cases ;  there  are  many  here  who  would 
tell  you,  if  this  were  the  time  to  speak,  where  they  used  to  spend  their 
Sabbaths,  and  what  was  their  delight.  All  things  have  become  new  with 
them.  They  now  seek  after  holiness  as  earnestly  as  they  once  pursued 
evil :  though  they  are  not  what  they  want  to  be,  they  are  not  what  they 
used  to  be.  They  never  thought  of  purity  or  goodness,  or  anything  of  the 
kind,  but  they  loved  the  wages  of  unrighteousness,  and  now  they  loathe  the 
things  they  once  loved.  I  have  seen  moral  miracles  quite  as  marvellous 
in  their  line  as  the  healing  of  a  leper  or  the  raising  of  the  dead.  This  is  the 
witness  of  the  Holy  Ghost  which  he  continues  to  bear  in  the  church,  and 
by  that  witness  I  entreat  you  to  stop  and  think  of  the  blessed  salvation 
••vhicli  can  work  the  same  miracle  in  you.  From  the  first  day  in  which  man 
fell,  when  the  Holy  Ghost  at  the  gates  of  Eden  presented  the  gospel  in 
the  first  promise,  all  down  t'ae  prophetic  ages,  and  then  by  Christ,  and  by 
his  apostles,  and  onward  by  all  the  men  whom  God  has  sent  since  then 
to  speak  with  power,  the  Holy  Ghost  entreats  you  to  consider  Christ 
and  his  salvation.  To  this  end  he  convinces  the  world  of  sin  and  of 
righteousness,  and  of  judgment  to  come,  that  men  may  turn  unto  the 
salvation  of  God  and  live  for  ever.  By  the  Spirit  of  the  living  God 
1  entreat  you,  dear  hearers,  no  longer  to  neglect  the  great  salvation 
which  has  won  the  admiration  of  all  holy  beings,  and  has  the  seal  of  the 
triune  God  upon  its  forefront. 

II.  So  far  have  I  commended  my  Lord's  salvation,  and  now  I  would 
desire  you,  with  all  this  in  your  own  minds,  to  turn  to  the  prayer  in  the 
one  hundred  and  nineteenth  Psalm  :  "  Let  thy  mercies  come  also  unto 
me,  0  Lord,  even  thy  salvation  according  to  thy  word."  Use  the  prayer 
with  this  intent: — Lord,  I  have  been  hearing  what  prophets  and  apostles 
and  angels  think  of  thy  salvation,  what  thy  Son  and  what  thy  Spirit 


YOUa  P££SONAL  SALVATIOK.  12  9 

think  of  it ;  now  let  me  humbly  say  what  I  think  of  it :  Oh  that  it  were 
mine !     Oh  that  it  would  come  to  me !     This,  then,  is  my  second  head. 

I    would    RECOMMEND  THE   PRAYER  OP  THE   PSALMIST. 

I  will  say  about  it,  first,  that  it  is  in  itself  a  very  gracious  prayer,  for 
it  is  offered  on  right  grounds.  "  Let  thy  mercies  come  also  unto  me." 
There  is  no  mention  of  merit  or  desert.  His  entreaty  is  for  mercy  only. 
He  pleads  guilty,  and  throws  himself  upon  the  prerogative  of  the  King, 
who  can  pardon  offenders.  Are  you  wilUng,  my  dear  hearer,  you  who 
have  never  sought  the  Saviour,  are  you  willing  at  this  moment  to  stand 
on  that  ground,  and  to  ask  for  salvation  as  the  result  of  mercy  ?  You 
shall  have  it  on  such  terms,  but  you  can  never  be  saved  until  you  will 
own  that  you  are  guilty  and  submit  to  justice.  Observe  the  plural,  "  Let 
thy  mercies  come  to  me,"  as  if  David  felt  that  he  needed  a  double  share 
of  it,  ay,  a  sevenfold  measure  of  it.  Elsewhere  he  cried,  "  According 
unto  the  multitude  of  thy  tender  mercies  blot  out  my  transgressions." 
Our  sense  of  sin  leads  us  to  use  similar  language.  Lord,  I  need  much 
mercy,  manifold  mercy,  multiplied  mercy,  I  want  mercy  upon  mercy ;  I 
want  forgiving  mercy,  I  want  regenerating  mercy,  I  want  mercy  for  the 
present  as  well  as  for  the  past,  and  I  shall  want  mercy  to  keep  me  in  the 
future  if  I  am  to  be  saved  at  all.  Friend,  set  your  plea  on  that  ground. 
Multiplied  sins  crave  multiplied  mercies.  "  Let  thy  mercies  come  also 
unto  me,  0  Lord." 

It  is  a  gracious  prayer,  because  it  asks  for  the  right  thing  :  "  even  ihy 
salvation,"  not  a  salvation  of  my  own  invention,  but  "  thy  salvation." 
God's  salvation  is  one  in  which  his  divine  sovereignty  is  revealed,  and 
that  sovereignty  must  be  accepted  and  adored.  Do  not  dispute  against 
God's  salvation,  but  accept  it  in  its  entirety,  just  as  it  is  revealed. 
Receive  the  salvation  which  the  Lord  planned  in  eternity,  which  he 
wrought  out  on  Calvary,  and  which  he  applies  to  the  heart  by  the  Holy 
Spirit.  You  need  salvation  from  sinning  as  well  as  salvation  from  hell, 
and  that  the  Lord  will  give  you.  You  want  salvation  from  self  to  God, 
and  that,  too,  he  will  bestow.  Ask  for  all  that  the  Lord  intends  by  his 
salvation  and  includes  in  it.  "  Let  thy  mercies  come  also  unto  me,  even 
thy  salvation." 

You  see,  dear  brethren,  that  the  prayer  is  put  in  the  right  form,  for  it 
is  added,  "  Even  thy  salvation  accordiny  to  thy  tvord."  He  wishes  to  be 
saved  in  the  manner  which  the  Lord  has  appointed.  Dear  hearer,  where 
are  you  ?  Are  you  hidden  away  in  the  foggy  corners  ?  I  wish  I  could 
get  a  hold  of  your  hand,  and  speak  as  a  brother  to  you.  You  do  not 
want  God  to  go  out  of  the  way  of  his  word  to  save  you :  do  you  ?  You 
are  willing  to  be  saved  in  the  Scriptural  way,  the  Bible  way.  People 
nowadays  will  do  anything  but  keep  to  the  word  of  God,  they  will 
follow  any  book  but  the  Bible.  Now,  do  pray  the  Lord  to  give  you  the 
salvation  of  the  Bible  in  the  Bible's  own  way.  Lord,  if  thy  word  says 
I  must  repent,  give  me  thy  salvation,  and  cause  me  to  repent ;  if  thy 
word  says  that  I  must  confess  my  sin,  give  me  thy  salvation  in  the  con- 
fession of  sin  ;  if  thou  sayest  I  must  trust  to  Christ,  Lord,  help  me  now 
to  trust  him ;  only  grant  me  thy  salvation  according  to  thy  word. 

Observe  that  the  whole  prayer  is  conceived  and  uttered  in  a  humble 
spirit.  It  is  "  Let  thy  salvation  come  also  unto  me."  He  owns  his  help- 
lessness.   He  cannot  get  at  the  mercy,  he  wants  it  to  come  to  him.     He 


130  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE  PULPIT. 

is  SO  wounded  and  so  sick  that  he  cannot  put  on  the  plaister  nor  reach 
the  medicine,  and  therefore  he  seeks  the  Lord  to  bring  it  to  him.  He  is 
like  the  man  half  dead  on  the  road  to  Jericho  and  needs  that  one  should 
pour  in  the  oil  and  wine,  for  he  cannot  help  himself  by  reason  of  his 
spiritual  lethargy  and  death, 

"  Let  thy  mercies  come  to  me,  0  Lord."  This  implies  that  there  is  a 
ban-ier  between  him  and  the  mercy ;  the  road  appears  to  be  blocked  up  ; 
the  devil  intervenes,  and  his  fears  hedge  up  the  way,  and  he  cries  to  God 
to  clear  the  road.  "  Lord,  let  thy  mercies  come.  Didst  thou  not  say, 
Let  there  be  light,  and  there  was  light  ?  So  let  thy  mercy  come  to  me, 
a  poor  dying  sinner,  and  I  shall  have  it,  Lord ;  but  it  must  come  to  mc 
by  thy  power.  Lo,  here  I  he  at  hell's  dark  door,  and  feel  within  my 
spirit  as  if  the  sentence  of  condemnation  were  registered  in  heaven 
against  me ;  but  let  thy  mercies  come  also  unto  me,  0  God,  even  thy 
salvation  according  to  thy  word."    That  is  a  very  gracious  prayer. 

In  the  second  place  this  prayer  ?««//  he  supported  by  gracious  arguments. 
May  the  Spirit  of  God  help  you  to  plead  them.  I  will  suppose  some  poor 
heart  painfully  longing  to  use  this  prayer.  Here  are  arguments  for 
you.  Pray  like  this.  Say,  *'  Lord,  let  thy  mercy  come  to  me,  for  I 
need  mercy."  Do  not  go  on  the  tack  of  trying  to  show  that  you  are 
good,  because  mercy  will  then  pass  you  by.  To  argue  merit  is  to  plead 
against  yourself.  Whenever  you  say,  "  Lord,  I  am  as  good  as  other 
people ;  I  try  to  do  my  best,"  and  so  on,  you  act  as  foolislily  as  if  a 
beggar  at  your  door  should  plead  that  he  was  not  very  badly  off,  not 
half  so  needy  as  others,  and  neither  scantily  fed  nor  badly  clothed. 
This  would  be  a  new  method  of  begging,  and  a  very  bad  one.  No,  no ; 
tell  out  your  case  in  all  its  terrible  truthfulness.  Say,  "  0  Lord,  I  feel 
that  nobody  in  all  this  world  needs  thy  mercy  more  than  I  do  :  let  my 
need  plead  with  thee ;  give  me  thy  salvation.  I  am  no  impostor,  I  am 
a  sinner  :  let  thy  mercy  and  thy  truth  visit  me  in  very  deed,"  Your 
soul's  wounds  are  not  such  as  sham  beggars  make  with  chemicals  :  they 
are  real  sores  ;  plead  them  with  the  God  of  all  grace.  Your  poverty  is 
not  that  which  wears  rags  abroad  and  fine  linen  at  home ;  you  are 
utterly  bankrupt,  and  this  you  may  urge  before  the  Lord  as  a  reason  for 
his  mercy. 

Next  plead  this  :  "  Lord,  thou  knowest,  and  thou  hast  made  me  to  know 
somewhat  of  what  will  become  of  me  if  thy  mercy  does  not  come  to  mc: 
I  must  perish,  I  must  perish  miserably.  I  have  heard  the  gospel,  and 
have  neglected  it ;  1  have  been  a  Sabbath  breaker,  even  when  I  thonght 
I  was  a  Sabbath  keeper;  I  have  been  a  despiser  of  Christ,  even  when  I 
stood  up  and  sang  his  praises,  for  I  sang  them  with  a  hypocrite's  lips. 
The  hottest  place  in  hell  will  surely  be  mine  unless  thy  mercy  come  to 
me.  Oh,  send  that  mercy,  now."  This  is  good  and  prevalent  pleading : 
hold  on  to  it. 

Then  plead,  "  If  thy  mercy  shall  come  to  me  it  will  be  a  great  wonder, 
Lord.  1  have  not  the  confidence  to  do  more  than  faintly  hope  it  may 
come ;  but,  oh,  if  thou  dost  ever  blot  out  my  sin  I  will  tell  the  world  ol 
it ;  I  will  tell  the  angels  of  it :  through  eternity  I  will  sing  thy  praises, 
and  claim  to  be  of  all  the  saved  ones  the  most  remarkable  instance  ol 
what  thy  sovereign  grace  can  do.  Do  you  feel  like  that,  dear  hearer  ? 
I  used  to  think  if  the  Lord  saved  me  ho  would  have  begun  on  a  new 


YOUR  PEBSONAL  SALVATION.  IBl 

line  altogether,  that  his  mercy  would  have  sent  up  her  song  an  octave 
higher  than  before.  In  every  man's  case  there  will  be  a  conviction 
that  there  is  a  something  so  special  about  his  guilt  that  there  will  be 
something  very  special  about  the  mercy  which  can  put  that  guilt  away. 
Plead  then  the  peril  of  your  soul,  and  the  glory  which  grace  will  gain  by 
your  rescue.  Plead  the  greatness  of  the  grace  needed,  for  Christ  delights 
to  do  great  marvels,  and  his  name  is  Wonderful.  "  Lord,  pardon  mine 
iniquity,  for  it  is  great.  Lord,  save  me,  for  I  am  a  nobody,  and  it  will 
be  a  wonder  indeed  if  thy  grace  shall  visit  me." 

Then  you  can  put  this  to  the  good  Saviour.  Tell  him  if  he  will  give 
you  his  salvation,  he  will  not  be  impoverished  by  the  gift.  "  Lord,  I 
am  a  thirsty  soul ;  but  thou  art  such  a  river  that  if  I  drink  from  thee 
there  will  be  no  fear  of  my  exhausting  thy  boundless  supply."  They  put 
up  over  certain  little  nasty,  dirty  ponds  by  the  roadside,  "  No  dogs  may 
be  washed  here."  Pity  the  dogs  if  they  were !  But  no  one  puts  up 
such  a  notice  on  the  banks  of  great,  glorious  Old  Father  Thames.  You 
may  wash  your  dogs  if  you  like,  and  his  flood  will  flow  on ;  there  is  too 
much  of  it  to  be  so  readily  polluted.  So  is  it  with  the  boundless  mercy 
of  God.  God  permits  many  a  poor  dog  of  a  sinner  to  be  washed  in  it, 
and  yet  it  is  just  as  full  and  efficacious  as  ever.  You  need  not  be  afraid 
of  enjoying  too  much  sunlight,  for  the  sun  loses  nothing  by  your  basking 
in  his  beams.  So  is  it  with  divine  mercy,  it  can  visit  you,  and  bless  you, 
and  remain  as  great  and  glorious  as  ever.  Out  of  the  fulness  of  Christ 
millions  may  still  receive  salvation,  and  he  will  remain  the  same  over- 
flowing fountain  of  grace.  Plead  then,  "  Lord,  if  such  a  poor  soul  as  I 
shall  be  saved,  I  shall  be  made  supremely  happy,  but  none  of  thine 
attributes  or  glories  shall  be  one  jot  the  less  illustrious ;  thou  wilt  be  as 
great  and  blessed  a  God  as  ever."  You  may  even  say,  "Lord,  now  that 
thy  Son  Jesus  has  died,  it  will  not  dishonour  thee  to  save  me.  Before 
the  atoning  sacrifice  it  might  have  stained  thy  justice  to  pass  by  sin ; 
but  now  the  sacrifice  is  ofiered  thou  canst  be  just  and  yet  the  justifier. 
Lord,  none  shall  say  thou  art  unjust  if  thou  savest  even  me,  now  that 
Jesus  Christ  has  bled.  Since  thou  thyself  hast  made  my  salvation 
possible  without  infringement  of  thy  law,  I  beseech  thee  fulfil  the  design 
of  the  great  sacrifice,  and  save  even  me." 

There  is  another  plea  implied  in  the  prayer,  and  a  very  sweet  argu« 
ment  it  is — "Let  thy  mercies  come  also  unto  me,  0  Lord."  It  means.' 
"  It  has  come  to  so  many  before,  therefore  let  it  come  also  unto  ma 
Lord,  if  I  were  the  only  one,  and  thou  hadst  never  saved  a  sinner  before, 
yet  v\^ou!d  I  venture  upon  thy  word  and  promise.  Especially  I  would 
come  and  trust  the  blood  of  Jesus :  but,  Lord,  I  am  not  the  first  by 
many  millions.  I  beseech  thee,  then,  of  thy  great  love,  let  thy  salva- 
tion come  unto  me."  You  notice  in  the  parable  of  the  prodigal  that  the 
forlorn  feeder  of  swine  was  the  only  son  that  had  gone  astray,  and  con- 
sequently the  first  that  ever  tried  whether  his  father  would  receive  him. 
The  elder  brother  had  not  gone  astray,  and  was  there  at  home,  to  grum- 
ble at  his  younger  brother  ;  but  the  poor  prodigal  son,  though  he  had  no 
instance  before  him  of  his  father's  willingness  to  forgive,  was  bold  to  try 
by  faith  his  father's  heart.  None  had  trodden  that  way  before,  yet  he 
made  bold  to  explore  it.  He  felt  that  he  should  not  be  cast  out.  But  when 
we  hear  any  of  you  say,  "  I  will  arise,  and  go  to  my  Father,"  scores  of  ufi 


182  METECrOLITAN   TABERNACLE   PULPIT. 

are  ready  to  leap  out  of  our  seats  and  cry,  "  Come  along,  brotlier,  for  we 
have  come,  and  the  gracious  Father  has  received  us."  I  do  not  know 
whether  the  elder  brother  is  here  to  murmur  at  a  penitent  sinner  ;  I  am 
happy  to  say  I  have  none  of  his  spirit.  It  will  make  my  heart  happy  ; 
the  bells  of  my  whole  nature  will  ring  for  joy  if  I  may  only  bring  one  of 
my  poor,  prodigal  brothers  back  to  my  great  Father's  house.  Oh,  como 
along  with  you,  and  let  this  be  the  plea  :  "  Thou  hast  received  so  many, 
0  receive  me."  Cry,  "  Bless  me,  even  me  also,  0  my  Father."  The  Lord 
has  not  come  to  the  end  of  his  mercy  yet.  Jesus  has  not  come  to  the 
end  of  his  saving  work  yet.  There  is  room  for  you,  and  there  will  be 
room  for  thousands  upon  thousands  yet,  until  the  Master  of  the  house 
hath  risen  up  and  shut  to  the  door.  He  has  not  risen  up,  nor  closed  the 
door  as  yet,  and  still  his  mercy  cries,  "  Come  to  me,  come  to  me,  come  to 
me,  and  him  that  cometh  to  me  I  will  in  no  wise  cast  out." 

I  will  close  by  assuring  you  that  this  blessedly  gracious  prayer,  which  I 
have  helped  to  back  up  with  arguments,  tvill  be  ansivered  by  our  gracious 
God.  Oh,  be  sure  of  this,  he  never  sent  his  prophets  to  preach  to  us  a 
Balvation  which  cannot  be  ours  ;  he  never  sent  his  apostles  to  repc^-t  to 
us  concerning  a  mere  dream ;  he  never  set  the  angels  wondering  at  an 
empty  speculation ;  he  never  gave  his  Son  to  be  a  ransom  which  will 
not  redeem ;  and  he  never  committed  his  Spirit  to  witness  to  that  which 
after  all  will  mock  the  sinner's  need.  No,  he  is  able  to  save  :  there  is 
salvation,  there  is  salvation  to  be  had,  to  be  had  now,  even  now.  AVe 
are  sitting  in  the  light  in  this  house  while  a  dense  fog  causes  darkness 
all  around,  even  darkness  which  may  be  felt ;  this  is  an  emblem  of  the 
Btate  of  those  who  are  in  Christ :  they  have  light  in  their  hearts,  light 
in  their  habitations,  light  in  Jesus  Christ.  0  come  to  him  and  find 
salvation  now.  j\Iay  God  bring  any  that  have  been  in  darkness  into 
his  marvellous  light,  and  bring  them  now,  and  unto  his  name  shall  be 
praise  fur  ever  and  ever.     Amen  and  amen. 


Portion  of  Scriptttpe  read  before  Sermox — 1  Peter  i. 


Uymns  from  "  Ouif  Own  Hymx  Book  "— 4So,  100,  bOJ, 


IHctin^uolitint  ©akruHck  ful^it. 


ALL  THINGS  ARE  READY.  COME. 


Delivered  on  Lord's-Day  Morning,  May  13th,  1877,  by 

C.   H.   SPURGEON, 

AT  THE  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE,  NEWINGTON. 


"  Come,  for  all  things  are  now  ready." — Luke  xiv.  17. 

This  inYitation  was  first  of  all  made  to  the  Jews,  but  it  seems  to  me  to 
have  a  peculiar  appropriateness  to  ourselves.  It  is  later  in  the  day  than 
when  first  the  Lord  was  here,  and  therefore  the  supper  time  is  evidently 
closer  at  hand.  The  shadows  lengthen,  the  sun  of  the  present  dispen- 
sation is  nearing  its  setting ;  by  nearly  nineteen  hundred  years  has  its 
day  been  shortened  since  first  the  Lord  sent  forth  his  servants  at  supper 
time.  The  fulness  of  time  for  the  marriage  supper  of  the  Lamb  must 
speedily  arrive,  and  therefore  it  behoves  us  to  be  more  than  ever  earnest 
in  delivering  the  message  to  the  invited  guests. 

And  if  all  things  could  be  said  to  be  ready  even  in  our  Saviour's  day, 
we  may  say  it  with  still  greater  emphasis  now  ;  for  when  he  delivered 
this  parable  the  Holy  Spirit  was  not  yet  given,  but  Pentecost  has  now 
passed,  and  the  Spirit  of  God  abideth  with  us  to  accompany  the  word, 
to  fill  it  with  power  and  to  bless  our  souls  as  we  feed  upon  the  truth. 
Very  emphatically  then  at  this  time  all  things  are  now  ready,  and  the 
supper  awaits  the  guests.  I  pray  you  do  not  begin  to  make  excuses, 
but  be  prepared  to  follow  us  when  we  bid  you  come,  to  go  with  us  when 
we  seek  to  bring  you  in,  or  at  least  to  yield  to  our  entreaties  when  with 
all  the  sacred  violence  of  love  we  would  compel  you  to  come  in.  We 
will  not  grudge  the  use  of  all  the  three  increasing  modes  of  persuasion 
so  long  as  you  are  but  led  to  **  Come,  for  all  things  are  now  ready." 

There  are  two  things  clearly  in  the  text,  and  these  have  a  close  re- 
lation to  one  another.  A  plain  invitation — "  Come,"  and  then  a  forcible 
argument — "  for  all  things  are  ready."  The  argument  is  fetched  from 
the  divine  preparations,  gathered  from  among  the  dainty  viands  of  the 
royal  feast.  "  My  oxen  and  my  fatlings  are  killed,  come  to  the  supper." 
The  readiness  of  everything  on  God's  part  is  the  argument  why  men 
should  come  and  partake  of  his  grace :  and  that  is  the  point  upon  which 
No.  1,354. 


278  METROPOLITAN   TABRUNACLE   PULPIT. 

we  Avill  dwell  at  this  time — the  readiness  of  the  feast  of  mercy  is  t'le 
reason  why  men  should  come  to  it  at  once. 

I.  We  will  begin  our  meditation  by  laying  down  the  first  statement 
which  shall  make  our  first  division  of  discourse,  namely,  that  it  la 
God's  habit  to  have  all  things  ready,  whether  for  his  guests  or 
his  creatures.  You  never  discover  him  to  be  behindhand  in  anything. 
'^Vhen  the  guests  come  there  is  not  a  scramble  to  get  the  table  arranged 
and  the  food  prepared,  but  the  Lord  has  great  forethought,  and  every 
little  point  of  detail  is  well  arranged.     "  All  things  are  ready." 

It  was  so  in  creation.  He  did  not  create  a  single  blade  of  grass  upon 
the  face  of  the  earth  until  the  soil  and  the  atmosphere  had  been  pre- 
pared for  it,  and  until  the  kindly  sun  had  learned  to  look  down  upon 
the  earth.  Imagine  vegetation  without  a  sun,  or  without  the  alterna- 
tion of  day  and  night.  But  the  air  was  full  of  light,  the  firmament 
upheld  the  clouds,  and  the  dry  land  had  appeared  from  out  of  the  sea, 
and  then  all  things  were  ready  for  herb,  and  plant,  and  tree.  Nor  did 
God  prepare  one  single  creature  that  hath  life,  nor  fowl  that  fly  in  the 
midst  of  heaven,  nor  fish  that  swim  the  seas,  nor  beast  that  moveth  on 
the  dry  land,  until  he  had  prepared  its  habitat,  and  made  ready  its  ap- 
pointed food.  There  were  no  cattle  before  there  were  meadows  for  their 
grazing ;  no  birds  till  there  were  trees  for  their  nests,  no,  nor  even  a 
creeping  insect  till  its  portion  of  meat  had  been  provided.  No  creature 
had  to  wait  in  hungry  mood  while  its  food  was  growing  ;  all  things  were 
ready :  ready  first  for  vegetation,  and  then  afterwards  for  animal  life. 
As  for  Adam,  when  God  came  to  make  him  as  his  la,>«L  and  noblest 
work  of  creation,  all  things  were  ready.  The  garden  was  laid  out  upon 
the  banks  of  flowing  streams,  and  planted  with  all  kinds  of  trees,  the 
fruits  were  ripe  for  his  diet,  and  the  flowers  in  bloom  for  his  delight. 
He  did  not  come  to  an  unfurnished  house,  but  he  entered  upon  a  home 
which  his  Father  had  made  pleasant  and  agreeable  for  his  dwelling. 
The  world  was  first  fitted  up,  and  then  the  man  who  was  to  govern 
that  world  was  placed  in  it.  "  All  things  are  ready,"  the  Lord  seems 
to  say,  "  Spring  up,  0  herb  yielding  seed";  and  then  "All  things  are 
ready,  come  forth  ye  roes  and  hinds  of  the  field ! "  and  then  "  All 
things  are  ready,  stand  forth,  0  man,  made  in  mine  own  image  ! " 

In  after  times  we  may  gather  illustrations  of  the  same  truth  from  the 
ways  of  God  with  men.  The  ark  was  first  of  all  builded,  and  the  various 
creatures  were  gathered  into  it,  with  all  their  necessary  provender,  for 
that  strange  voyage  which  they  were  about  to  take  :  and  then  the  Lord 
said  to  Noah,  "  Come  thou  and  all  thy  house  into  the  ark,"  "  All  things 
are  ready,  come,"  Avas  his  voice  to  the  chosen  eight  as  they  entered  into 
the  ark.  There  was  no  need  to  tany  any  longer,  every  preparation  was 
made,  and  therefore  God  shut  them  in.  Everything  is  done  with 
punctuality  and  exactness  by  the  only  wise  God.  The  selfsame  day  that 
B  thing  is  needed  it  is  prepared. 

Take  another  event  in  providence,  such  as  the  going  down  of  Israel 
into  Egypt.  God  had  determined  that  Jacob  and  his  seed  should  sojourn 
awhile  in  the  land  of  Ham,  but  how  wisely  he  prepared  the  whole  matter. 
He  sent  a  man  before  them,  even  Joseph,  and  Joseph  was  there  upon 
the  throne  clothed  with  power  to  nourish  them  through  the  famine. 
He  had  been  there  yearp  before,  all  in  good   time  to  store  the  wheat 


ALL   THINGS  ARE   READY.      COME.  279 

while  the  seven  years  of  plenty  lasted,  that  they  might  be  well  fed 
during  the  seven  years  of  famine.  Goshen  also  was  at  the  disposal  of 
Joseph,  so  that  the  flocks  and  herds  of  Israel  might  dwell  in  that  fat 
land.  Not  into  Egypt  shall  God's  Israel  go  till  all  things  are  ready ; 
and  when  all  things  are  ready  they  will  come  out  again  with  a  high 
band  and  an  outstretched  arm. 

So  was  it  when  the  tribes  migrated  into  Canaan  itself.  God  took 
them  not  to  the  promised  land  until  all  things  were  ready.  They  were 
made  to  wait  for  the  fitting  time,  for  the  Lord  said  **  The  iniquity  of 
the  Amorites  is  not  yet  full."  Not  till  the  inhabitants  of  the  land  had 
passed  the  bounds  of  mercy,  and  were  condemned  to  die,  were  the 
Israehtes  brought  upon  the  scene  to  be  at  once  their  executioners  and 
successors ;  and  when  the  tribes  came  to  the  river  Jordan,  God  had 
prepared  everything  for  them,  for  he  had  sent  the  hornet  before  them 
to  drive  out  the  people,  and  a  pestilence  also,  for  the  spies  said,  "  It  is  a 
land  that  eateth  up  the  inhabitants  thereof."  The  Lord  God  had  gone 
before  them  to  fight  their  battles  before  they  came,  and  to  prepare  a 
place  for  them,  so  that  when  they  entered  they  dwelt  in  houses  which 
they  had  not  built,  and  they  gathered  the  fruit  of  olives  which  they 
had  not  planted.  They  came  to  a  land  that  flowed  with  milk  and 
honey,  a  land  in  a  fine  cultivated  condition,  and  not  a  wilderness  which 
Avith  hard  labour  must  be  reclaimed.  Israel  came  to  a  country  which 
was  as  the  garden  of  the  Lord,  whose  fruit  might  at  once  be  enjoyed, 
for  they  ate  of  the  old  corn  of  the  land  almost  as  soon  as  they  passed 
the  Jordan.  So  you  see  "  All  things  are  ready  "  is  a  proclamation 
which  the  Lord  has  often  in  spirit  made  to  those  whom  he  chooses  to 
bless. 

Now  the  fact  that  in  the  great  gospel  supper  all  things  are  ready 
teaches  us  first,  that  OoiVs  thoughts  go  before  men's  comings.  "  Come, 
for  all  things  are  ready."  Not  "  If  you  come,  all  things  will  be  ready," 
but  "  they  are  ready,  and  therefore  come."  Grace  is  first,  and  man  at 
his  best  follows  its  footsteps.  Long  before  we  ever  thought  of  God  he 
thought  of  us  ;  yea,  before  we  had  a  being  and  ere  time  itself  began,  in 
the  bosom  of  the  Eternal  there  were  thoughts  of  love  towards  those  for 
whom  the  table  of  his  mercy  is  now  spread.  He  had  planned  and 
arranged  everything  in  his  august  mind  from  of  old,  he  had  indeed 
foreknown  and  predestinated  all  the  provisions  and  all  the  guests  of 
his  supper ;  all  things  were  settled  in  his  eternal  covenant  and  purpose 
or  ever  the  earth  was.  Never  think,  oh  sinner,  that  thou  canst  out- 
strip the  love  of  God,  it  is  at  the  end  of  the  race  before  thou  art  at  the 
beginning.  God  hath  completed  before  thou  hast  begun.  His  thoughts 
are  before  ours,  and  so  are  his  acts,  for  he  doth  not  say,  "  All  things 
are  planned  and  arranged,"  but  "AU  things  are  ready."  Jesus,  the 
great  sacrifice,  is  slain,  the  fountain  for  our  cleansing  is  filled  with 
blood  :  the  Holy  Spirit  has  been  given,  the  word  by  which  we  are  to  be 
instructed  is  in  our  hands,  and  the  light  which  will  illuminate  that 
sacred  page  is  promised  us  through  the  Holy  Ghost.  Things  promised 
ought  to  encourage  us  to  come  to  Christ,  but  things  already  given  ought 
to  be  irresistible  attractions.  All  things  are  already  completed  by  the 
sacred  Trinity  before  we  come  to  cry  for  mercy ;  this  should  make  ub 
vcj-y  hopeful  and  eager  in  our  approaches  to  the  Lord.     Come,  sinner  t 


^80  METROrOLITAN  TABERNACLE  PULPIT. 

come  at  once :  this  ought  to  encourage  thee,  since  all  that  God  has  to 
do  in  thy  salvation  is  done  before  thou  hast  a  thought  of  him  or  turncst 
one  foot  towards  his  abode.     All  tilings  are  ready.     Come  ! 

This  also  jfroves  how  welcome  those  are  who  come.  If  you  arc  in- 
vited to  sec  a  friend,  and  when  you  reach  the  place  you  find  the  door 
fast,  and  after  knocking  many  times  no  one  answers,  for  there  is  no  one 
at  home,  you  reckon  that  tliere  is  some  mistake,  or  that  the  invitation 
was  not  a  sincere  one.  Even  if  your  host  should  come  to  the  door  and 
admit  you,  but  should  evidently  be  embarrassed,  for  there  is  no  meal  pro- 
rided,  and  he  has  made  no  arrangements  for  your  reseat  night,  you  soon 
detect  it,  and  like  a  wise  man  you  quickly  move  off  somewhere  else,  for 
if  you  had  been  welcome,  things  would  have  been  prepared  for  you. 
But  oh,  poor  soul,  if  thou  comest  to  God  all  things  are  ready  for  thine 
entertainment. 

"  Spread  for  thee  the  festal  board, 
With  his  richest  dainties  stored." 

The  couch  of  rest  and  quietness  is  prepared  for  thee.  All  things  are 
ready.  How  freely  doth  Jehovah  welcome  thee,  how  genuine  is  the 
invitation,  how  sincere  the  desire  that  thou  shouldst  come  to  feast  with 
him. 

So  much  upon  our  first  remark,  it  is  the  habit  of  the  Lord  to  have  all 
things  ready  for  his  guests. 

II.  Our  second  statement  is  that  this  readiness  should  bk 
AN  ARGUMENT  THAT  HIS  SAINTS  SHOULD  COME  Continually  to  him  and 
find  grace  to  help  in  every  time  of  need.  0  children  of  God,  I  will 
lift  the  parable  away  from  the  immediate  use  which  the  Saviour  made 
of  it  to  employ  it  for  your  good.  You  know,  beloved,  that  whenever 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  invites  his  people  to  come  to  him,  and  to  taste 
of  his  bounty,  all  things  are  ready.  It  was  a  beautiful  scene  by 
tlie  sea  of  Tiberias  when  the  Lord  spake  to  those  who  had  been  toihng 
on  the  lake  at  fishing,  and  said  to  them,  **  Come  and  dine."  They 
were  willing  enough  to  dine,  but  they  were  busy  dragging  to  the  shore 
those  great  fishes.  Remember,  when  they  did  land,  they  found  the 
invitation  to  be  no  vain  one,  for  it  is  AVTitten,  "  They  saw  a  fire  of  coals 
there  and  fish  laid  thereon,  and  bread."  How  the  coals  came  there,  and 
the  fish,  and  the  bread,  the  evangelist  does  not  tell  us,  but  our  Lord 
would  not  have  asked  them  to  dinner  if  he  had  not  been  able  to  give 
them  a  warm  reception ;  there  was  the  fire  of  coals,  and  the  fish  laid 
thereon  and  bread.  Whenever  therefore  your  Lord  and  IMaster,  by  his 
blessed  Spirit,  calls  you  to  come  near  to  him,  you  may  be  quite  sure 
that  all  things  are  ready  for  your  immediate  enjoyment :  you  need 
never  pause  or  hesitate,  but  approacli  him  without  delay.  I  want  to 
caution  you  against  replying,  *'  But,  Lord,  I  do  not  feel  ready."  That 
is  most  true,  but  that  is  not  an  argument  which  thou  shouldst  use  to 
excuse  thyself  in  holding  back.  It  is  his  readiness  that  is  the  main 
thing,  not  thine,  and  as  all  things  are  ready,  do  thou  come  whether  thou 
fcelest  ready  or  not.  I  have  heard  of  some  Christians  who  have  said, 
'•  I  do  not  feel  in  a  proper  frame  of  mind  to  pray."  My  brother,  pray 
till  you  do.  Some  have  said,  "  I  do  not  think  I  shall  go  up  to  the 
house  of  God  to-day,  I  feel  so  unhappy,  so  cast  down."    When  shouldst 


ALL  THIA'GS   AHE   KEADY.      COME.  28.1 

tilou  go  SO  much  as  then,  in  order  that  thou  mayest  find  comfort  ? 
"  Still,"  saith  one,  "  you  would  not  have  me  sing  a  hymn  wlien  of  heavy 
heart?"  Ay,  would  I  not,  I  would  indeed,  I  would  have  thee  sing  thy- 
self up  from  the  depths  of  the  sea  where  all  God"s  billows  have  gone 
over  thee.  David  full  often  did  so,  when  he  began  a  psalm,  in  the  deeps, 
and  then  gradually  rose,  and  rose,  and  rose,  till  he  was  in  a  perfect  rapture 
of  delight  before  the  psalm  was  over.  AH  things  are  ready  with  your 
Lord,  therefore  do  you  come  whether  you  happen  to  be  ready  or  not. 

Note  the  times  when  this  truth  ought  to  have  power  with  you.  All 
things  are  ready,  therefore  come  to  tlie  storehouse  of  divine  promise. 
Are  you  in  spiritual  poverty  ?  Come  and  take  what  God  has  provided  for 
yon,  for  all  things  are  yours,  and  all  the  blessings  of  the  everlasting  hills 
belong  to  all  the  people  of  God.  Are  you  needing  strength  ?  There  is 
a  promise,  "  As  thy  days  so  shall  thy  strength  be."  It  is  ready,  come 
and  take  it.  Art  thou  wanting  consolation  ?  Dost  thou  not  know  that 
all  things  are  ready  for  thy  comfort,  that  two  immutable  things,  wherein 
it  is  impossible  for  God  to  he,  are  already  set  before  thee  ?  Come  thou, 
and  take  thy  solace.  Ay,  remember  that  all  that  God  has  promised  be- 
longs to  all  those  who  believe  the  promise,  and  that  you  may  therefore 
come  at  all  times,  however  deep  your  need,  and  if  you  have  but  faith  you 
shall  find  the  special  supply  for  the  special  want.  All  things  are  ready, 
tlierefore  come  with  holy  confidence,  and  take  what  is  ripe  enough  to 
gather,  ripe  for  you. 

Come  next  to  the  nwcy  seat  in  prayer,  all  things  are  ready  there.  The 
mercy  seat  is  sprinkled  with  the  precious  blood  of  Christ.  The  veil  also 
is  rent  in  twain,  and  fi-om  between  the  cherubim  Jehovah's  glory  now 
shines  forth  with  mildest  radiance.  Let  us  therefore  come  with  bold- 
ness unto  the  throne  of  the  heavenly  grace,  because  everything  there  is 
ready  for  the  pleading  suppliant.  Thou  hast  no  need  to  bring  anything 
with  thee  there.  Thou  hast  no  need  of  making  preparations  other  than 
the  Holy  Spirit  waits  to  give  thee  in  the  form  of  groanings  which  cannot 
be  uttered.  Come,  child  of  God,  notwithstanding  thy  carelessness  and 
indifference,  or  whatever  it  may  be  thou  hast  to  complain  of,  for  though 
thou  be  unready,  the  throne  of  grace  is  ready,  and  therefore  do  thou  draw 
near  to  it  and  find  the  grace  thou  needest. 

If  at  this  time  we  feel  strong  promptings  towards  communion  with 
Christ  what  a  blessing  it  is  that  Christ  is  always  ready  to  commune 
with  his  people.  "  Behold,"  saith  he,  "  I  stand  at  the  door  and 
knock."  We  think  that  we  stand  at  the  door  and  knock,  but  it  ia 
scarcely  so,  the  greater  truth  with  regard  to  his  people  is  that  Jesus 
asks  for  fellowship  with  us,  and  tells  us  that  if  we  open  the  door,  and 
that  is  all  he  bids  his  people  do,  he  will  enter  in  and  sup  with  them, 
and  they  with  him.  Suppose  there  is  no  supper,  he  will  provide  it- 
he  hath  all  things  ready.  The  Master  saith,  "  Where  is  the  guest- 
chamber?"  He  doth  not  say  "Where  is  the  feast  ?  "  If  thy  hearl 
will  be  the  guest-chamber,  he  will  provide  the  supper,  and  thou  shalt  sujf 
with  him  and  he  with  thee.  At  whose  door  did  Christ  knock  according 
to  the  Scriptures  ?  It  was  at  the  door  of  the  Laodicean  church,  at  the 
door  of  the  very  church  concerning  which  he  had  said,  "  Because  thou 
art  neither  cold  nor  hot,  I  will  spue  thee  out  of  my  mouth."  Therefore 
t.hou  poor  Laodicean  believer  that  art  here  this  morning,  if  thou  hast 


282  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE  PULPIT. 

any  promptings  towards  Christ,  arise,  for  all  thinj^s  are  ready,  and  or 
ever  thou  art  aware  thy  soul  shall  be  as  the  chariots  of  Amminadii). 
lie  is  ready  to  receive  us  to  his  heart  of  hearts.  How  sweetly  this 
ought  to  constrain  us  to  fly  into  the  arms  of  Jesus. 

I  think  the  same  thought  ought  to  cross  our  minds  with  regard  to 
every  daily  duty.  We  wake  up  in  the  morning,  but  we  do  not  know 
exactly  what  lies  before  us,  for  God's  providence  has  constantly  now 
revelations :  but  I  like  to  think  in  the  morning  that  all  things  arc 
ready  for  my  pathway  through  the  day,  that  if  I  will  go  out  to  serve 
God  in  my  ministry  he  has  prepared  some  ear  into  which  I  am  to  drop 
a  gracious  word,  and  some  heart  in  the  furrows  of  which  I  shall  sow 
some  blessed  seed  eifectually.  Behold  all  providence  with  its  mighty 
wheels  is  co-working  with  the  servant  of  the  living  God ;  only  go  for- 
ward in  zeal  and  confidence,  my  brother,  and  thou  shalt  find  that  every 
step  of  thy  way  is  ready  for  thee.  Thy  Master  has  trodden  the  road 
and  marked  out  for  thee  the  houses  of  refreshment  where  thou  art  to 
tarry  till  thou  shalt  come  to  the  celestial  city  itself,  and  the  hallowed 
spots  where  thou  shalt  bring  glory  to  his  blessed  name.  For  a  useful 
hfe  all  things  are  ready  for  us. 

Yes,  and  if  beyond  the  daily  service  of  life  we  should  feel  a  prompting 
to  aspire  to  a  higher  degree  of  holiness,  if  we  want  to  grow  in  grace  and 
reach  the  fulness  of  the  stature  of  a  man  in  Christ  Jesus,  all  things  are 
ready  for  us.  No  Christian  can  have  a  sacred  ambition  after  holiness 
which  the  liord  is  not  prepared  to  fulfil.  Thou  that  ^villest  to  be  like 
thy  faster,  thou  that  desirest  to  make  a  self-sacrifice  that  will  show  the 
power  of  his  grace  in  thee,  the  Holy  Spirit  waits  to  help  thee,  all  things 
shall  work  for  thee,  for  all  things  are  ready.  Come  therefore  without 
fear. 

One  of  these  days  it  may  be  that  you  and  I  shall  ei  ther  be  grown  very 
old,  or  else  disease  will  lay  hold  upon  us,  and  we  shall  lie  upon  the  sick 
bed  watching  and  waiting  for  our  Master's  coming.  Then  there  shall 
suddenly  appear  a  messenger  from  him,  who  will  bring  us  this  word, 
"All  things  are  ready,  come  unto  the  supper,"  and  closing  our  eyes 
on  earth  we  shall  open  them  in  heaven  and  see  what  he  has  done 
who  so  sweetly  said,  "  I  go  to  prepare  a  place  for  you,  and  if  I  go  to 
prepare  a  place  for  you  I  will  come  again  and  receive  you  unto  myself, 
that  where  I  am  there  ye  may  be  also."  Oh,  it  will  be  a  joyous 
moment  when  we  shall  hear  the  summons,  "All  things  are  ready, 
quit  thy  house  of  clay,  thy  farm,  thy  merchandise,  and  even  her  who 
lies  in  thy  bosom,  for  the  marriage  of  the  Lamb  has  come,  and  thou  must 
be  there  ;  therefore,  rise  up,  my  love,  my  fair  one,  and  come  away.  The 
winter  is  over  and  past,  the  time  of  the  singing  of  birds  is  come  for 
thee,  all  things  are  ready,  come !"  I  feel  tempted  to  linger  here,  but  I 
must  tear  myself  away  from  that  point  to  pass  on  to  the  next. 

III.  The  perfect  readiness  of  the  feast  of  divine  mercy 
IS  evidently  intended  to  be  a  strong  argument  with  sinners 
WHY  THEY  SHOULD  COME  AT  ONCE.  To  the  siuucr,  then,  do  I  address 
myself. 

Soul,  dost  thou  desire  eternal  life?  Is  there  within  thy  spirit  a 
bungering  and  a  thirsting  after  such  things  as  may  satisfy  thy  spirit  and 
tpake  thee  live  for  ever?  Then  hearken  while  the  Master's  servant  gives 


ALL  THINGS  ARE  READY.      COME.  283 

tliee  the  invitation.  "  Come,  for  all  things  are  ready," — all,  not  some, 
but  all.  There  is  nothino;  that  thou  canst  need  between  here  and  heaven 
but  what  is  provided  in  Jesus  Christ,  in  his  person  and  in  his  work.  All 
things  are  ready,  life  for  thy  death,  forgiveness  for  thy  sin,  cleansing 
for  thy  filth,  clothing  for  thy  nakedness,  joy  for  thy  sorrow,  strength  for 
thy  weakness,  yea,  more  than  all  that  ever  thou  canst  want  is  stored  up 
in  the  boundless  nature  and  work  of  Christ.  Thou  must  not  say,  "  I 
cannot  come  because  I  have  not  this,  or  have  not  that."  Art  thou  to 
prepare  the  feast  ?  Art  thou  to  provide  anything  ?  Art  thou  the  pur- 
veyor of  even  so  much  as  the  salt  or  the  water  ?  Thou  knowest  not 
thy  true  condition,  or  thou  wouldst  not  dream  of  such  a  thing.  The 
great  Householder  himself  has  provided  the  whole  of  the  feast,  thou 
hast  nothing  to  do  with  the  provision  but  to  partake  of  it.  If  thou 
lackest  come  and  take  what  thou  lackest ;  the  greater  thy  need  the 
greater  reason  why  thou  shouldst  come  where  all  things  that  thy  need 
can  possibly  want  will  be  at  once  supplied.  If  thou  be  so  needy  that 
thou  hast  nothing  good  at  all  about  thee,  all  things  are  ready.  What 
wouldst  thou  provide  more  when  God  has  provided  all  things  ?  Super- 
fluity of  naughtiness  would  it  be  if  thou  wert  to  think  of  adding  to  his 
"all  things  ";  it  would  be  but  a  presumptuous  competing  with  the  pro- 
visions of  the  great  King,  and  this  he  will  not  endure.  All  that  thou 
wantest — I  can  but  repeat  the  words — between  the  gates  of  hell,  where 
thou  now  liest,  and  the  gates  of  heaven,  to  which  grace  will  bring 
thee  if  thou  believest, — all  is  provided  and  prepared  in  Jesus  Christ  the 
Saviour. 

And  all  things  are  ready,  dwell  on  that  word.  The  oxen  and  the  fat- 
lings  were  killed ;  what  is  more,  they  were  prepared  to  be  eaten,  they 
were  ready  to  be  feasted  on,  they  smoked  on  the  board.  It  is  something 
when  the  king  gives  orders  for  the  slaughter  of  so  many  bullocks  for  the 
feast,  but  the  feast  is  not  ready  then ;  and  when  beneath  the  poleaxe 
the  victims  fall,  and  they  are  stripped  and  hung  up  ready  for  the  fire, 
there  is  something  done,  but  they  are  not  ready.  It  is  when  the  joints 
are  served  hot  and  steaming  upon  the  table,  and  all  that  is  wanted  is 
brought  forth  and  laid  in  proper  order  for  the  banquet,  it  is  then  that 
all  things  are  ready,  and  this  is  the  case  now ;  at  this  very  moment 
thou  wilt  find  the  feast  to  be  in  the  best  possible  condition ;  it  was 
never  better  and  never  can  be  better  than  it  is  now.  All  things  are 
ready,  just  in  the  exact  condition  that  thou  needest  them  to  be,  just  in 
such  condition  as  shall  be  best  for  thy  soul's  comfort  and  enjoyment. 
All  things  are  ready ;  nothing  needs  to  be  further  mellowed  or  sweetened, 
everything  is  at  the  best  that  eternal  love  can  make  it. 

But  notice  the  word,  "  now,"  "  All  things  are  noiv  ready  " — just  now, 
at  this  moment.  At  feasts,  you  know,  the  good  housewife  is  often 
troubled  if  the  guests  come  late.  She  would  be  sorry  if  they  came  half- 
an-hour  too  soon,  but  half-an-hour  too  late  spoils  everything,  and  in 
what  a  state  of  fret  and  worry  she  is  if  when  all  things  are  now  ready, 
her  friends  still  delay.  Leave  food  at  the  fire  awhile,  and  it  does  not  seem 
to  be  *'  now  ready,"  but  something  more  than  ready,  and  even  spoiled.  So 
doth  the  great  householder  lay  stress  upon  this,  all  things  are  noiv  ready, 
therefore  come  at  once.  He  saith  not  that  if  thou  wilt  tarry  for  another 
seven  years  all  things  will  then  be  ready;  God  grant  that  long  before 


234  METROPOLITAN   TABEIINACI.R    TULPIT. 

that  space  of  time  thou  mayest  have  got  beyond  the  need.s  of  persuasion 
by  having  become  a  taster  of  tlie  feast,  but  he  doth  say  that  they  are  all 
ready  now,  just  now.  Just  now  that  your  heart  is  so  heavy  and  your 
mind  is  so  careless,  that  your  spirit  is  so  wandering — all  things  are 
ready  now.  Just  now,  though  you  have  never  thought  of  these  things 
before,  but  dropped  in  this  morning  to  see  this  large  assembly  with 
no  motive  whatever  as  to  your  own  salvation,  yet  all  things  are 
ready  noiv.  Though  your  sins  are  as  the  stars  of  heaven,  and  your 
soul  trembles  under  an  awful  foreboding  of  coming  judgment,  yet  "all 
things  are  now  ready."  After  all  your  rejections  of  Christ,  after  the 
many  invitations  that  have  been  thrown  away  upon  you,  come  ye  to  the 
supper. 

And  if  they  are  ready  twtv,  the  argument  is  come  now,  while  still  all 
things  are  ready.  While  the  Spirit  lingers  and  still  doth  strive  with 
men,  while  mercy's  gates  still  stand  wide  open,  that  "  whosoever  will 
may  come,"  while  life  and  health  and  reason  still  are  spared  to  you  and 
the  ministering  voice  that  bids  thee  come  can  still  be  heard,  come  now, 
come  at  once — all  things  are  ready — come  !  Delay  is  as  unreasonable 
as  it  is  wicked  now  that  all  things  are  ready. 

Notice  that  all  things  were  ready  for  those  who  were  bidden.  They 
did  not  come,  but  they  were  not  mocked  when  they  were  bidden  to 
come.  The  fact  of  all  things  being  ready  proved  that  the  invitation 
was  a  sincere  one,  although  it  was  a  rejected  one.  There  are  some  who 
will  not  have  us  give  an  invitation  to  any  but  to  those  whom  we  believe 
are  sure  to  come,  nay,  in  a  measure  have  come ;  that  is  to  say,  they 
make  a  minister  to  be  a  mere  superfluity.  Why  need  he  come  and 
invite  those  who  have  already  begun  to  come  ?  But  we  believe  it  to  be 
our  duty  and  our  privilege  to  invite  the  whole  mass  of  mankind ;  and 
even  those  who  will  not  come  :  if  we  knew  they  would  not  come  we 
should  not  therefore  exempt  them  from  the  bidding,  for  the  servant  was 
sent  to  bid  them  to  the  wedding  who  nevertheless  all  with  one  consent 
began  to  make  excuse.  They  were  invited,  and  earnestly  invited,  aud 
all  things  were  ready,  though  they  came  not.  0  my  dear  hearers,  if 
you  do  not  come  to  Christ  you  will  perish,  but  you  will  never  be  able 
to  say  you  were  not  bidden,  and  that  there  was  nothing  ready  ibr 
you.  No,  there  stands  the  feast  all  spread,  and  you  arc  sincerely  and 
honestly  bidden  to  come.  God  grant  that  you  may  come,  and  come  at 
once. 

IV.  Now  I  am  going  to  pass  on  to  my  fourth  and  last  point,  which 
may  God  bless  to  the  comfort  of  some  seeking  soul.  Tuis  text  dis- 
poses OF  A  GREAT  DEAL  OF  TALK  ABOUT  TUE  SINNEIl's  READINESS  Oil 

UNREADINESS:  bccausB,  if  the  reason  why  a  sinner  is  to  come  is  be- 
cause all  things  are  ready,  then  it  is  idle  for  him  to  say  "  But  I  am  not 
/eady."  It  is  clear  that  all  the  readiness  required  on  man's  part  is  a 
willingness  to  come  and  receive  the  blessing  which  God  had  pro- 
vided. There  is  nothing  else  necessary ;  if  men  are  willing  to  come, 
they  may  come,  they  will  come.  Where  the  Lord  has  been  pleased  to 
touch  the  will  so  that  man  has  a  desire  towards  Christ,  where  the  heart 
really  hungers  and  thirsts  after  righteousness,  that  is  all  the  readiness 
which  is  wanted.  All  the  fitness  he  requireth  is  that  first  you  feel 
your  need  of  him  (and  that  he  gives  you),  and  that  secondly  in  feeling 


ALL   THINGS  ARE   READY.      COME.  285 

your  need  of  him  you  are  willing  to  come  to  him.  Willingness  to  como 
is  everything.  A  readiness  to  believe  in  Jesus,  a  willingness  to  cast  the 
soul  on  him,  a  preparedness  to  accept  him  just  as  he  is,  because  you  feel 
that  he  is  just  the  Saviour  that  you  need — that  is  all :  there  was  no 
other  readiness,  there  could  have  been  none,  in  the  case  of  those  who 
were  poor  and  blind,  and  halt,  and  maimed,  yet  came  to  the  feast. 
The  text  does  not  say,  "  You  are  ready,  therefore  come,"  that  is  a  legal 
way  of  putting  the  gospel;  but  it  says,  "All  things  are  ready,  the 
gospel  is  ready,  therefore  you  are  to  come."  As  for  your  readiness,  all 
the  readiness  that  is  possibly  wanted  is  a  readiness  which  the  Spirit 
gives  us,  namely,  wilhngness  to  come  to  Jesus. 

Now  notice  that  the  unreadiness  of  those  who  were  bidden  arose  out 
of  their  possessions  and  out  of  their  abilities.  One  would  not  come  be- 
cause he  had  bought  a  piece  of  land.  What  a  great  heap  Satan  casts 
up  between  the  soul  and  the  Saviour !  What  with  worldly  possessions 
and  good  deeds  he  builds  an  earthwork  of  huge  dimensions  between 
the  sinner  and  his  Lord.  Some  gentlemen  have  too  many  acres  ever  to 
come  to  Christ :  they  think  too  much  of  the  world  to  think  much  of 
him.  Many  have  too  many  fields  of  good  works  in  which  there  are 
growing  crops  in  which  they  pride  themselves,  and  these  cause  them  to 
feel  that  they  are  persons  of  great  importance.  Many  a  mau  cannot 
come  to  Christ  for  all  things  because  he  has  so  much  already.  Others 
of  them  could  not  come  because  they  had  so  much  to  do,  and  could 
do  it  well — one  had  bought  five  yoke  of  oxen,  he  was  going  to  prove 
them  ;  a  strong  man  quite  able  for  ploughing  ;  the  reason  why  he  did 
not  come  was  because  he  had  so  much  ability.  Thousands  are  kept 
aAvay  from  grace  by  what  they  have  and  by  what  they  can  do.  Empti- 
ness is  more  preparatory  to  a  feast  than  fulness.  How  often  does  it 
happen  that  poverty  and  inabihty  even  help  to  lead  the  soul  to  Christ. 
When  a  man  thinketh  himself  to  be  rich  he  will  not  come  to  the 
Saviour.  When  a  man  dreameth  that  he  is  able  at  any  time  to  repent 
and  believe,  and  to  do  everything  for  himself  that  is  wanted,  he  is  not 
likely  to  come  and  by  a  simple  faith  repose  in  Christ.  It  is  not  what 
jou  have  not  but  what  you  have  that  keeps  many  of  you  from  Christ. 
Sinful  self  is  a  devil,  but  righteous  self  is  seven  devils.  The  man  who 
feels  himself  guilty  may  for  awhile  be  kept  away  by  his  guilt,  but  the 
man  who  is  self-righteous  will  never  come :  until  the  Lord  has  taken 
his  pride  away  from  him  he  will  still  refuse  the  feast  of  free  grace. 
The  possession  of  abilities  and  honours  and  riches  keep  men  from 
coming  to  the  Redeemer. 

But  on  the  other  hand  personal  condition  does  not  constitute  an  un- 
fitness for  coming  to  Christ,  for  the  sad  condition  of  those  who  became 
guests  did  not  debar  them  from  the  supper.  Some  were  poor,  and 
doubtless  wretched  and  ragged;  they  had  not  a  penny  to  bless  them- 
selves with,  as  we  say ;  their  garments  were  tattered,  perhaps  worse, 
they  were  filthy,  they  were  not  fit  to  be  near  respectable  people,  they 
Mould  certainly  be  no  credit  to  my  lord's  table  ;  but  those  who  went  to 
bring  them  in  did  not  search  their  pockets,  nor  look  at  their  coats,  but 
they  fetched  them  in.  They  were  poor,  but  the  messengers  were  told  to 
bring  in  the  poor,  and  therefore  brought  them.  Their  poverty  did  not 
prevent  their  being  ready  ;  and  oh,  poor  soul,  if  thou  be  poor  Utcrally.  ^-v 


2S6  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE  PULPIT. 

poor  spiritually,  neither  sort  of  poverty  can  constitute  an  unfitness  foJ- 
divine  mercy. 

"  The  pooTcr  the  wretch  the  welcomer  here." 

If  thou  art  brougl.i  t--)  thy  last  penny,  yea,  if  that  is  spent,  and  if  thou 
hast  pawned  all,  and  thou  art  left  in  debt  over  head  and  ears,  and 
tliinkcst  that  there  is  nothing  for  thee  but  to  be  laid  by  the  heels  in 
prison  for  ever,  nevertheless  thou  mayest  come,  poverty  and  all. 

Another  class  of  them  were  inaimed,  and  so  were  not  very  comely  in 
appearance  :  an  arm  had  been  lopped  off,  or  an  eye  had  been  gouged 
out.  One  had  lost  a  nose,  and  another  a  leg.  They  were  in  all  stages 
and  shapes  of  dismemberment.  Sometimes  we  turn  our  heads  away,  and 
feel  that  we  would  rather  give  anything  than  look  upon  beggars  who 
show  their  wounds,  and  describe  how  they  were  maimed.  But  it  did 
not  matter  how  badly  they  were  disfigured ;  they  were  brought  in, 
and  not  one  of  them  was  repulsed  because  of  the  ugly  cuts  he  had  re- 
ceived. So,  poor  soul,  however  Satan  may  have  torn  and  lopped  thee, 
and  into  whatsoever  condition  he  may  have  brought  thee,  so  that  thou 
feelest  ashamed  to  live,  nevertheless  this  is  no  unfitness  for  coming  ; 
just  as  thou  art  thou  mayest  come  to  his  table  of  grace.  Moral  dis- 
figurements are  soon  rectified  when  Jesus  takes  the  character  in  hand. 
Come  thou  to  him,  however  sadly  thou  art  injured  by  sin. 

There  were  others  Avho  were  halt,  that  is  to  say,  they  had  lost  a  leg, 
or  it  was  of  no  use  to  them,  and  they  could  not  come  except  they  had  a 
crutch  and  crawled  or  hopped  upon  it ;  but  nevertheless  that  was  no 
reason  why  they  were  not  welcome.  Ah,  if  you  find  it  difficult  to  be- 
lieve, it  is  no  reason  why  you  should  not  come  and  receive  the  grand 
absolution  which  Jesus  Christ  is  ready  to  bestow  upon  you.  Lame 
with  doubting  and  distrusting,  nevertheless  come  to  the  supper  and  say, 
•*  Lord,  I  beheve  ;  help  thou  mine  unbelief." 

Others  were  blind  people,  and  when  they  were  told  to  come  they 
could  not  see  the  way,  but  in  that  case  the  messenger  was  not  told  to 
tell  them  to  come,  he  was  commanded  to  bring  them,  and  a  blind  man 
can  come  if  he  is  brought.  All  that  was  wanted  was  willingness  to  be 
led  by  the  hand  in  the  right  direction.  Now  you  that  cannot  fully 
understand  the  gospel  as  you  desire  to  do,  that  arc  puzzled  and 
muddled,  give  your  hand  into  the  hand  of  Jesus,  and  be  willing  to  be 
led,  be  willing  to  believe  what  you  cannot  comprehend,  and  to  grasp  in 
confidence  that  which  you  are  not  able  yet  to  measure  with  your 
understanding.  The  blind,  however  ignorant  or  uninstructed  they  are, 
shall  not  be  kept  away  because  of  that. 

Then  there  were  the  men  in  the  hightvays,  I  suppose  they  were  beggars  ; 
and  the  men  in  the  hedges,  I  suppose  they  were  hiding,  and  were  pro- 
bably thieves  ;  but  nevertheless  they  were  told  to  come,  and  thougli 


ALL   THINGS   ARE   READY.      COME.  287 

they  were  higlnvaymen  and  hedge-birds  even  that  did  not  prevent 
Iheir  coming  and  finding  welcome.  Though  outcasts,  offcasts,  spiritual 
gipsies,  people  that  nobody  cared  for,  yet,  whatever  they  might  be,  that 
was  not  the  question,  they  were  to  come  because  all  things  were  ready  : 
come  in  rags,  come  in  filth,  come  maimed,  come  covered  with  sores, 
come  in  all  sorts  of  filthiness  and  abomination,  yet  because  all  thinga 
are  ready  they  were  to  be  brought  or  to  be  compelled  to  come  in. 

Now,  lastly,  I  think  it  was  the  very  thing,  which  in  any  one  of  these 
people  looked  like  unfitness,  which  was  a  help  to  them.  It  is  a  great 
truth  that  what  we  regard  as  unfitness  is  often  our  truest  fitness.  I 
want  you  to  notice  these  poor,  blind,  and  halt  people.  Some  of  those 
who  were  invited  would  not  come  because  they  had  bought  some  land 
or  five  yoke  of  oxen,  but  when  the  messenger  went  up  to  the  poor  man 
in  rags  and  said,  "  Come  to  the  supper,"  it  is  quite  clear  he  would  not 
say  he  had  bought  a  field,  or  oxen,  for  he  could  not  do  it,  he  had  not 
a  penny  to  do  the  thing  with,  so  that  he  was  clean  delivered  from  that 
temptation.  And  when  a  man  is  invited  to  come  to  Christ  and  he  says, 
"I  do  not  want  him,  I  have  a  righteousness  of  my  own,"  he  will  stay 
away ;  but  when  the  Lord  Jesus  came  along  to  me  I  never  was  tempted 
in  that  way,  because  I  had  no  righteousness  of  my  own,  and  could  not 
have  made  one  if  I  had  tried.  I  know  some  here  who  could  not  patch 
up  a  garment  of  righteousness  if  they  were  to  put  all  their  rags  together, 
and  this  is  a  great  help  to  their  receiving  the  Lord  Jesus.  What  a 
blessedness  it  is  to  have  such  a  sense  of  soul  poverty  that  you  will  never 
stay  away  from  Christ  because  of  what  you  possess. 

Then,  next,  some  could  not  come  because  they  had  married  a  wife. 
Now,  I  think  it  is  very  likely  that  these  people  who  were  maimed  and 
cut  about  were  so  injured  that  they  had  no  wife,  and  perhaps  could  not 
get  anybody  to  have  them.  Well  then,  they  had  not  that  temptation,  to 
stay  away.  They  were  too  maimed  to  attract  the  eye  of  anybody  who 
was  looking  for  beauty,  and  therefore  they  were  not  tempted  that  way. 
But  they  found  at  the  ever-blessed  supper  of  the  Lamb  an  everlasting 
wedlock,  which  was  infinitely  better.  Thus  do  souls  lose  earthly  joys 
and  comforts,  and  by  the  loss  they  gain  supremely  :  they  are  thus  made 
willing  to  close  in  with  Christ  and  find  a  higher  comfort  and  a  higher 
joy.  That  maiming  which  looked  like  unfitness  turned  out  to  be 
fitness. 

One  excuse  made  was,  "  I  have  bought  five  yoke  of  oxen,  and  I  go  to 
prove  them."  The  halt  could  not  do  that.  When  the  messenger 
touched  the  lame  man  on  the  shoulder  and  said  "  Come,"  he  could  not 
Bay,  "  I  am  going  out  to-night  to  plough  with  my  new  tear  $."  He  had 
never  been  over  the  clods  ever  since  he  had  lost  his  leg,,  poor  soul,  sa 
that  he  could  not  make  such  an  excuse.  The  blind  man  could  not  say, 
•*  I  have  bought  a  piece  of  land  and  I  must  go  to  see  it ;"  he  was  free 


288  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE  PULPIT. 

from  all  the  lusts  of  the  eye,  and  so  far  was  all  the  more  ready  to  be 
led  to  the  supper.  When  a  soul  feels  its  own  sinfulness,  and  wretched- 
ness, and  lost  estate,  it  thinks  itself  unfit  to  come  to  Christ,  but  this  is 
an  assistance  to  it,  since  it  prevents  its  looking  to  anything  else  but 
Phrist,  kills  its  excuses,  and  makes  it  free  to  accept  salvation  by  grace. 

But  how  about  the  men  that  were  in  the  highway  ?  Well,  it  seems  to 
me  that  they  were  already  on  the  road,  and  at  least  out  of  their  houses, 
if  they  had  any.  If  they  were  out  there  begging,  they  were  the  more 
ready  to  accept  an  invitation  to  a  meal  of  Tictuals,  for  it  was  that  they 
were  singing  for.  A  man  who  is  out  of  the  house  of  his  own  self- 
righteousness,  though  he  be  a  great  sinner,  is  in  a  more  favourable 
position  and  more  likely  to  come  to  Christ  than  he  who  prides  himself 
in  his  supposed  self-righteousness. 

As  for  those  who  were  under  the  hedges,  well,  they  had  no  house  of 
their  own,  and  so  they  were  all  the  more  likely  to  come  and  fill  God's 
house.  Men  do  not  take  to  hedges  to  sleep  under  them  as  long  as  thej 
have  even  a  hovel  where  they  may  rest  their  head,  but  oh,  poor  soul, 
when  thou  art  driven  to  such  distress  that  thou  wouldst  fain  hide  under 
any  hedge,  when  thou  hast  nothing  left  thee  but  a  fearful  looking  for  of 
judgment,  when  thou  thinkest  thyself  to  be  an  outlaw  and  an  outcast 
before  God,  left  to  wander  like  Cain,  a  wail  and  stray,  lost  to  all  good, 
thou  art  the  very  man  to  come  to  Christ.  Come  out  of  your  hedges, 
then.  I  am  looking  for  you.  Though  you  hide  yourselves  away  yet 
God's  own  Spirit  will  discover  you,  and  bring  you,  I  trust  this  very 
morning,  to  feed  on  love  divine.  Trust  Jesus  Christ,  that  is  all,  just  as 
you  are,  with  all  your  unfitness  and  unreadiness.  Take  what  God  has 
made  ready  for  you,  the  precious  blood  to  cleanse  you,  a  robe  of 
righteousness  to  cover  you,  eternal  joy  to  be  your  portion.  JEleceiA^e  the 
grace  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus,  oh  receive  it  now.  God  grant  you  may, 
for  Jesus  Christ's  sake.    Amen. 


Portion  of  Scripture  Read  before  Sermon — Luke  xiv.  12 — 36, 


Hyiiks  raoM  "  Our  Own  Hymn  Book  "—909,  504,  488  (r.  3— «). 


lH^tropIitnu  Sakmadii  fulpt. 


JESUS  ONLY. 


^   ^frmon 


C7 
Delivered  on  Lord's-day  Morning,  April  3rd,  1870,  uf 

C.  II.  SPURGEON, 

AT  THE  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE,   NEWINGTON. 


'  And  when  they  had  lifted  up  their  eyes,  they  saw  no  man,  save  Jesus  only."— 

JMatthew  xvii.  8. 

The  last  words  will  suffice  us  for  a  text,  "  Jesus  only."  When  Peter 
saw  our  Lord  with  Moses  and  Elias,  he  exclaimed,  "  Master,  it  is  good 
to  be  here,"  as  if  he  implied  that  it  was  better  to  be  with  Jesus,  and 
Moses,  and  Elias,  than  to  be  with  Jesus  only.  Now  it  was  certainly 
good  that  for  once  in  his  life  he  should  see  Christ  transfigured  with  the 
representatives  of  the  law  and  the  prophets;  it  might  be  for  that 
particular  occasion  the  best  sight  that  he  could  see,  but  as  an  ordinary 
thing  an  ecstacy  so  sublime  would  not  have  been  good  for  the  disciples; 
and  Peter  himself  very  soon  found  this  out,  for  when  the  luminous 
cloud  overshadowed  him,  and  the  voice  was  heard  out  of  heaven,  we 
find  that  he  with  the  rest  became  sore  afraid.  The  best  thing  after  all 
for  Peter  was  not  the  excessive  strain  of  the  transfiguration,  nor  the 
delectable  company  of  the  two  great  spirits  who  appeared  with  Jesus, 
but  the  equally  glorious,  but  less  exciting,  society  of  "  Jesus  only." 
Depend  on  it,  brethren,  that  ravishing  and  exciting  experiences  and 
transporting  enjoyments,  though  they  may  be  useful  as  occasional  re- 
freshments, would  not  be  so  good  for  every  day  as  that  quiet  but 
delightful  ordinary  fellowship  with  "Jesus  only,"  which  ought  to  be 
the  distinguishing  mark  of  all  Christian  life.  As  the  disciples  ascended 
the  mountain  side  with  Jesus  only,  and  as  they  went  back  agam  to  the 
multitude  with  Jesus  only,  they  were  in  as  good  company  as  when  they 
were  on  the  mountain  summit,  Moses  and  Elias  being  there  also ;  and 
although  Jesus  Christ  in  his  common  habiliments  and  in  his  ordinary 
attire  might  not  so  dazzle  their  eyes  as  when  they  saw  his  raiment 
bright  as  the  light,  and  his  face  shining  as  the  sun,  yet  he  really  was 
quite  as  glorious,  and  his  company  quite  as  beneficial.  When  they  saw 
him  in  his  everyday  attire,  his  presence  was  quite  as  useful  to  them 
as  when  he  robed  himself  in  splendour.  "  Jesus  only,"  is  after  all  upon 
the  whole  a  better  thing  than  Jesus,  Moses,  and  Elias.  "  Jesus  only," 
fts  the  common  Jesus,  the  Christ  of  every  day,  the  man  walking  among 
men,  communing  in  secret  with  his  disciples,  is  a  better  thing  for  a 
continuance  while  we  are  in  this  body  than  the  sight  even  of  Jesua 
himself  in  the  excellence  of  his  majesty. 
No.  924. 


19 i  mktuopolitajj  tabeunacle  puLPrr. 

This  morning,  in  trying  to  dwell  upon  the  simple  sight  of  "  Jesns 
only,"  we  shall  hold  it  up  as  beyond  measure  important  and  delightful, 
and  shall  bear  our  witness  that  as  it  was  said  of  Goliath's  sword,  "  there 
is  none  like  it,"  so  may  it  be  said  of  fellowship  with  "Jesus  only." 
■r-We  shall  first  notice  what  might  have  happened  to  the  disciples  after 
the  transJiguratio)i ;  we  shall  then  dwell  on  tvhat  did  ha^jpen ;  and  then, 
thirdly,  we  shall  speak  on  what  ive  anxiously  desire  may  happen  to 
those  who  hear  us  this  day. 

I.  .First,  then,  what  might  have  happened  to  the  three  disciples 
after  they  had  seen  the  transfiguration. 

There  were  four  things  either  of  which  might  have  occurred.  As  a 
first  snpposition,  they  might  Imve  seen  nobody  with  them  on  the 
boly  mount ;  they  might  have  found  all  gone  but  themselves.  When 
the  cloud  had  overshadowed  them,  and  "they  were  sore  afraid,  they 
might  have  lifted  up  their  eyes  and  found  the  entire  vision  melted  into 
thin  air;  no  Moses,  no  Eli  as,  and  no  Jesus.  In  such  a  case  they  would 
have  been  in  a  sorry  plight,  like  those  who  having  begun  to  taste  of  a 
banquet,  suddenly  find  all  the  viands  swept  away ;  like  thirsty  men 
who  have  tasted  the  cooling  crystal  drops,  and  then  seen  the  fountain 
dried  up  before  their  eyes.  They  would  not  have  gone  down  the  moun- 
tain side  that  day  asking  questions  and  receiving  instruction,  for  they 
would  have  had  no  teacher  left  them.  They  would  have  descended  to 
face  a  multitude  and  to  contend  with  a  demon  ;  not  to  conquer  Satan, 
but  to  stand  defeated  by  him  before  the  crowd;  for  they  would  have  had 
no  champion  to  espouse  their  cause  and  drive  out  the  evil  spirit.  They 
would  have  gone  down  among  Scribes  and  Pharisees  to  be  baffled  with 
their  knotty  questions,  and  to  be  defeated  by  their  sophistries,  for  they 
would  have  had  no  wise  man,  who  spake  as  never  man  spake,  to  untie 
the  knots  and  disentangle  the  snarls  of  controversy.  They  would  have 
been  like  sheep  without  a  shepherd,  like  orphan  children  left  alone  in 
the  world.  They  would  henceforth  have  reckoned  it  an  unhappy  day 
on  which  they  saw  the  transfiguration ;  because  having  seen  it, 
having  been  led  to  high  thoughts  by  it,  and  excited  to  great  expecta- 
tions, all  had  disappeared  like  the  foam  upon  the  waters,  and  left  no 
solid  residuum  behind.  Alas  1  for  those  who  have  seen  the  image  of 
the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect,  and  beheld  the  great  Lord  of  all 
such  spirits,  and  then  have  found  themselves  alone  and  all  the  high 
companionship  for  ever  gone. 

My  dear  brethren  and  sisters,  there  are  some  in  this  world,  and 
we  ourselves  liave  been  among  them,  to  whom  something  like  this 
has  actually  occurred.  You  have  been  under  a  sermon,  or  at  a 
gospel  ordinance,  or  in  reading  the  word  of  God  for  awhile  delighted, 
exhilarated,  lifted  up  to  the  sublimer  regions,  and  then  afterwards 
when  it  has  all  been  over,  there  has  been  nothing  left  of  joy  or 
benefit,  nothing  left  of  all  that  was  preached  and  for  the  moment 
enjoyed,  nothing,  at  any  rate,  tliat  you  could  take  with  you  into  the 
conflicts  of  every-day  life.  The  whole  has  been  a  splendid  vision  and 
nothing  more.  There  has  been  neither  Moses,  nor  Elias,  nor  Jesus  left. 
You  did  remember  what  you  saw,  but  only  with  regret,  because  nothing  re- 
mained with  you.  And,  indeed,  this  which  happens  sometimes  to  us,  is  a 
general  habit  of  that  portion  of  this  ungodly  world  which  hears  the  gospeJ 


JESUS  ONLY.  196 

and  perceives  not  its  reality ;  it  listens  with  respect  to  {gospel  histories  as  to 
lejrends  of  ancient  times ;  it  hears  with  reverence  the  stories  of  the  days 
of  miracles;  it  venerates  the  far-off"  ages  and  their  heroic  deeds,  but  it. 
does  not  believe  that  anything  is  left  of  all  the  vision,  anything  for  to-day, 
for  common  life,  and  for  common  men.  Moses  it  knows,  and  Elias  it 
knows,  and  Christ  it  knows,  as  shadows  that  have  passed  across  the 
scene  and  have  disappeared,  but  it  knows  nothing  of  any  one  of  these 
as  abiding  in  permanent  influence  over  the  mind  and  spirit  of  the 
present.  All  come  and  all  gone,  all  to  be  reverenced,  all  to  be  respected, 
but  nothing  more  ;  there  is  nothing  left  so  far  as  they  are  concerned  to 
influence  or  bless  the  present  hour.  Jesus  and  his  gospel  have  come 
and  gone,  and  we  may  very  properly  recollect  the  fact,  but  according 
to  certain  sages  there  is  nothing  in  the  New  Testament  to  affect 
this  advanced  age,  this  enlightened  nineteenth  century  ;  we  have 
got  beyond  all  that.  Ah!  brethren,  let  those  who  can  be  content 
to  do  so,  put  up  with  this  worship  of  moral  relics  and  spiritual 
phantoms;  to  us  it  would  be  wretchedness  itself.  We,  on  the  other 
hand  say,  blessing  the  name  of  the  Lord  that  we  can  say  it,  that 
tlicre  abides  with  us  our  Lord  Jesus.  At  this  day  he  is  with  us,  and 
will  be  with  us  even  to  the  end  of  the  world.  Christ's  existence  is 
not  a  fact  confined  to  antiquity  or  to  remote  distance.  By  his  Spirit  he 
is  actually  in  his  church ;  we  have  seen  him,  though  not  with  eyes ;  we 
have  heard  him,  though  not  with  ears ;  we  have  grasped  him,  though  not 
with  hands;  and  we  feed  upon  hisflesh,  which  is  meat  indeed,  and  his  blood, 
wiiich  is  drink  indeed.  We  have  with  us  at  this  very  day  Jesus  our  friend, 
to  whom  we  make  known  our  secrets,  and  who  beareth  all  our  sorrows. 
We  have  Jesus  our  interpreting  instructor,  who  still  reveals  his  secrets 
to  us,  and  leads  us  into  the  mind  and  name  of  God.  We  have  Jesus 
still  with  us  to  supply  us  with  strength,  and  in  his  power  we  still  are 
mighty.  We  confess  his  reigning  sovereignty  in  the  church,  and  we 
receive  his  all-sufficient  succours.  The  church  is  not  decapitated,  her 
Head  abides  in  vital  uniou  with  her;  Jesus  is  no  myth  to  us,  whatever  he 
may  be  to  others;  he  is  no  departed  shade,  he  is  no  heroic  personification: 
in  very  deed  there  is  a  Christ,  and  though  others  see  him  not,  and  even 
we  with  these  eyes  see  him  not,  yet  in  him  believing  we  rejoice  with  joy 
unspeakable  and  full  of  glory.  Oh,  I  trust  it  will  never  be  so  with  us, 
that  as  we  go  about  our  life  work  our  religion  shall  melt  into  fiction 
and  become  nothing  but  mere  sentiment,  nothing  but  thought,  and 
dream,  and  vision ;  but  may  our  religion  be  a  matter  of  fact,  a  walking 
with  the  living  and  abiding  Saviour.  Though  Moses  may  be  gone,  and 
Elias  may  be  gone,  yet  Jesus  Christ  abideth  with  us  and  in  us,  and  we 
in  him,  and  so  shall  it  be  evermore. 

Now,  there  was  a  second  thing  that  might  have  happened  to  the 
disciples.  When  they  lifted  up  their  eyes  they  might  have  seen  Moses 
only.  It  would  certainly  have  been  a  very  sad  exchange  for  what  they 
did  see,  to  have  seen  Moses  only.  The  face  of  Moses  would  have  shone, 
his  person  would  have  awed  them,  and  it  would  have  been  no  mean 
thing  for  men  of  humble  origin  like  themselves  to  walk  down  the 
mountain  with  that  mighty  king  in  Jeshurun,  who  had  spoken  with 
God  face  to  face,  and  rested  with  him  in  solemn  conclave  by  the  space 
of  forty  days  at  a  time.    But  yet  who  would  exchange  the  sun  for  the 


196  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE  PUI.PIT. 

moon?  Who  would  exchange  the  cold  moonbeams  of  Moses  and  the 
'aw  for  the  sunny  rays  of  the  Saviour's  divine  affection  ?  It  would 
have  been  an  unhappy  exchange  for  them  to  have  lost  their  Master 
whose  name  is  love,  and  to  have  found  a  leader  in  the  man  whose 
name  is  synonymous  with  law.  Moses,  the  man  of  God  cannot  be 
compared  with  Jesus,  the  Son  of  God.  Yet,  dear  brethren,  there  are  ; 
some  who  see  Moses  only.  After  all  the  gospel  preaching  that  there 
has  been  in  the  world,  and  the  declaration  of  the  precious  doctrines 
of  grace  every  Sabbath  day,  after  the  clear  revelations  of  Scripture, 
and  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  men's  hearts,  yet  we  have  among 
ns  some  wlio  persist  in  seeing  nothing  but  Moses  only.  I  mean  this, 
there  are  some  who  will  see  nothing  but  shadows  still,  mere  shadows 
f:till.  As  I  read  my  Bible  I  see  there  that  the  age  of  the  symbolical, 
the  typical,  the  pictorial,  has  passed  away.  I  am  glad  of  the  symbols, 
and  types,  and  pictures,  for  they  remain  instructive  to  me ;  but  the 
age  in  which  they  were  in  the  foreground  has  given  way  to  a 
clearer  light,  and  they  are  gone  for  ever.  There  are,  however, 
certain  persons  who  profess  to  read  the  Bible  and  to  see  very 
differently,  and  they  set  up  a  new  system  of  types  and  shadows — a 
system,  let  me  say,  ridiculous  to  men  of  sense,  and  obnoxious  to 
men  of  spiritual  taste.  There  are  some  who  delight  in  outward  ordi- 
nances; they  must  have  rubric  and  ritual,  vestments  and  ceremonial, 
and  this  superabundantly,  morning,  noon  and  night.  They  regard 
days,  and  seasons,  and  forms  of  words  and  postures.  They  consider 
one  place  holy  above  another.  They  regard  a  certain  caste  of  men  as  being 
priestly  above  other  believers,  and  their  love  of  symbols  is  seen  in  season 
and  out  of  season.  One  would  think,  from  their  teachings,  that  the  one 
thing  needful  was  not  "  Jesus  only,"  but  custom,  antiquity,  outward  per- 
formance, and  correct  observance !  Alas!  for  those  who  talk  of  Jesus,  but 
virtually  see  Moses,  and  Moses  only.  Ah  !  unhappy  change  for  the  heart 
if  it  could  exchange  spiritual  fellowship  with  Jesus  for  outward  acts  and 
symbolical  representations.  It  would  be  an  unhappy  thing  for  the 
Christian  church  if  she  could  ever  be  duped  out  of  the  priceless  boons 
which  faith  wins  from  her  living  Lord  in  his  fulness  of  grace  and  truth, 
to  return  to  the  beggarly  elements  of  carnal  ordinances.  Unhappy  day, 
indeed,  if  Popish  counterfeits  of  legal  shadows  should  supplant  gospel 
fact  and  substance.  Blessed  be  God,  we  have  not  so  learned  Christ. 
We  see  something  better  than  Moses  only. 

There  are  too  many  who  see  Moses  only,  inasmuch  as  they  see 
nothing  but  law,  nothing  but  duty  and  precept  in  the  Bible.  I  know 
that  some  here,  though  we  have  tried  to  preach  Christ  crucified  as 
their  only  hope,  yet  whenever  they  read  the  Bible,  or  hear  the 
gospel,  feel  nothing  except  a  sense  of  their  own  sinfulness,  and 
arising  out  of  that  sense  of  sinfulness,  a  desire  to  work  out  a 
righteousness  of  their  own.  They  arc  continually  measuring  them- 
Belves  by  the  law  of  God,  they  feel  their  shortcomings,  they  mourn 
over  their  transgressions,  but  they  go  no  further.  I  am  glad  *.t\s\t  they 
see  Moses,  may  the  stern  voice  of  the  lawgiver  drive  them  l>:>  the  law- 
fulfiller ;  but  I  grieve  that  they  tarry  so  long  in  legal  servitude,  which 
can  only  bring  them  sorrow  and  dismay.  The  sight  of  Sinai,  what  is 
it  but  despair  ?     God  revealed  inflaming  fire,  and  in-oclaiming  with 


JESUS  ONLY.  197 

thunder  his  fiery  law,  what  is  there  here  to  save  the  soul  ?  To  see  tl)e 
Lord  who  will  by  no  means  spare  the  j?uilty,  but  will  surely  visit 
transfrression  with  eternal  vengeance,  is  a  sight  which  never  should 
eclipse  Calvary,  where  love  makes  recompense  to  justice.  0  that  you 
may  get  beyond  the  mount  that  might  be  touched,  and  come  to  Calvary 
where  God  in  vengeance  is  clearly  seen,  but  where  God  in  mercy  fills 
the  throne.  Oh,  how  blessed  is  it  to  escape  from  the  voice  of  command 
and  threatening  and  come  to  the  blood  of  sprinkling,  where  "  Jesua 
only  "  speaketh  better  things ! 

Moses  only,  however,  has  become  a  sight  very  common  with  some  of 
you  who  write  bitter  things  against  yourselves.  You  never  read  the 
Scriptures  or  hear  the  gospel  without  feeling  condemned.  You  know 
your  duty,  and  confess  how  short  you  have  fallen  of  it,  and  therefore 
you  abide  under  conscious  condemnation,  and  will  not  come  to  him  who 
is  the  propitiation  for  your  sins.  Alas,  that  there  should  be  so  many 
who  with  strange  perversity  of  unbelief  twist  every  promise  into  a 
threatening,  and  out  of  every  gracious  word  that  drips  with  honey 
manage  to  extract  gall  and  wormwood.  They  see  the  dark  shadow  of 
Moses  only;  the  broken  tablets  of  the  law,  the  smoking  mount,  and  the 
terrible  trumpet  are  ever  with  them,  and  over  all  an  angry  God.  They 
had  a  better  vision  once,  they  have  it  sometimes  now;  for  now  and 
then  under  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  they  have  glimpses  of  hope  and 
mercy,  but  they  relapse  into  darkness,  they  fall  again  into  despair, 
because  they  have  chosen  to  see  Moses  only.  I  pray  that  a  change 
may  come  over  the  spirit  of  their  dream,  and  that  yet  like  the  apostles 
they  may  see  "Jesus  only." 

But,  my  brethren,  there  was  a  third  alternative  that  might  have 
happened  to  the  disciples,  they  might  have  seen  Elijah  only.  Instead  of 
the  gentle  Saviour,  they  might  have  been  standing  at  the  side  of  the 
rougli-clad  and  the  stern-spirited  Elias.  Instead  of  the  Lamb  of  God, 
there  might  have  remained  to  them  only  the  lion  who  roared  like  the 
voice  of  God's  own  majesty  in  the  midst  of  sinful  Israel.  In  such  a 
case,  with  such  a  leader,  they  would  have  gone  down  from  the  mount, 
and  I  wot  that  if  John  had  said,  "  Command  fire  from  heaven,"  Elias 
would  have  consumed  his  foes,  the  Pharisees  like  the  priests  of  Baal 
would  have  found  a  speedy  end,  Herod's  blood,  like  Ahab's,  would  have 
been  licked  up  by  dogs,  and  Herodias,  like  another  Jezebel,  would  have 
been  devoured  of  the  same.  But  all  this  power  for  vengeance  would 
have  been  a  poor  exchange  for  the  gracious  omnipotence  of  the  Friend 
of  sinners.  Who  would  prefer  the  slayer  of  the  priests  to  the  Saviour 
of  men  ?  The  top  of  Carmel  was  glorious  when  its  intercession  brought 
the  rain  for  Israel,  but  how  poor  it  is  compared  with  Gethsemane, 
whose  pleadings  bring  eternal  life  to  millions  1  In  company  with 
Jesus  we  are  at  Elim  beneath  the  palm  tree,  but  with  Elias  we  are  in 
the  wilderness  beneath  the  stunted  juniper.  Who  would  exchange  tha 
excellency  of  Olivet  for  the  terrors  of  Horeb  ?  Yet  I  fear  there  are 
many  who  see  Elias  only.  Prophecies  of  future  woe  fascinate  them 
rather  than  thoughts  of  present  salvation.  Eiias  may  be  taken  repre- 
sentatively as  tiie  preparer  of  Christ,  fur  our  Lord  interpreted  the 
prophecy  of  the  coming  of  Elias  as  relerring  to  John  the  Baptist.  There 
are  not  ^  few  wh.Q  9,bi4e  iu  thQ  S^ekin^^  i,-cyenting,  and  pi:epj,ia,'iftg  state, 


198  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE  PULPIT. 

Bnd  come  not  to  "  Jesus  only."  I  am  not  myself  fond  of  even  using  tha 
term  "  preparing  for  Christ,"  for  it  seems  to  me  that  those  are  best  pre- 
pared for  Christ  who  most  feel  themselves  unprepared  ;  but  there  is  no 
doubt  a  state  of  heart  which  prepares  for  faith — a  sense  of  need,  a  con- 
sciousness of  sin,  a  hatred  of  sin,  all  these  are  preparations  for  actual  peace 
and  comfort  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  oh !  how  many  there  are  who  continue 
year  after  year  merely  in  that  preliminary  condition,  choosing  the  candle 
and  refusing  the  sun.  They  do  not  become  believers,  but  are  always 
complaining  that  they  do  not  feel  as  yet  fit  to  come  to  Christ.  They 
want  Christ,  they  desire  Christ,  they  would  fain  have  Christ,  but  they 
stay  in  desire  and  longings,  and  go  no  further.  They  never  get  so  far 
as  to  behold  "  the  Lamb  of  God  that  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world." 
The  voice  from  heaven  to  them  they  always  interpret  as  crying,  "  The 
axe  is  laid  unto  the  root  of  the  trees;  bring  forth  therefore  fruits 
meet  for  repentance,"  Their  conscience  is  thrilled,  and  thrilled  again, 
by  the  voice  that  cricth  in  the  wilderness,  *'  Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the 
Lord."  Their  souls  are  rent  and  torn  by  Elijah's  challenge,  "  If  the 
Lord  be  God,  follow  him:  but  if  Baal,  then  follow  him;"  but  they 
remain  still  halting  between  two  opinions,  trembling  before  Elias  and 
not  rejoicing  before  the  Saviour.  Unhappy  men  and  women,  so  near 
the  kingdom,  and  yet  out  of  it ;  so  near  the  feast,  and  yet  perishing  for 
want  of  the  living  bread.  The  word  is  near  you  (ah,  how  near !),  and  yet 
you  receive  it  not.  Remember,  I  pray  you,  that  merely  to  prepare  for  a 
Saviour  is  not  to  be  saved  ;  that  to  have  a  sense  of  sin  is  not  the  same 
thing  as  being  pardoned.  Your  repentance,  unless  you  also  believe  in 
Jesus,  is  a  repentance  that  needs  to  be  repented  of.  At  the  girdle  of 
John  the  Baptist  the  keys  of  heaven  did  never  hang ;  Elias  is  not  the 
door  of  salvation  ;  preparation  for  Christ  is  not  Christ,  despair  is  not 
regeneration,  doubt  is  not  repentance.  Only  by  faith  in  Jesus  can  you 
be  saved,  but  complaining  of  yourselves  is  not  faith.  "  Jesus  only  "  is  the 
way,  the  truth,  and  the  life.  "  Jesus  only  "  is  the  sinner's  Saviour.  0 
that  your  eyes  may  be  opened,  not  to  see  Elias,  not  to  see  Moses,  but  to 
see  "  Jesus  only." 

You  see,  then,  these  three  alternatives,  but  there  was  also  another :  a 
fourth  thing  might  have  happened  when  the  disciples  opened  their 
eyes — they  might  Iiave  seen  Moses  and  Elias  ivith  Jesus,  even  as  in  the 
transfiguration.  At  first  sight  it  seems  as  if  this  would  have  been 
superior  to  that  which  they  did  enjoy.  To  walk  down  the  mountain  with 
that  blessed  trio,  how  great  a  privilege !  How  strong  might  they  have  been 
for  the  accomplishment  of  the  divine  purposes  !  Moses  could  preach  the 
law  and  make  men  tremble,  and  then  Jesus  could  follow  with  his  gospel  of 
grace  and  truth.  Elias  could  flash  the  thunderbolt  in  their  faces,  and  then 
Christ  could  have  uplifted  the  humbled  spirits.  Would  not  the  contrast 
have  been  delightful,  and  the  connection  inspiriting  ?  Would  not  the 
assemblage  of  such  divers  kinds  of  forces  have  contributed  to  the 
greatest  success  ?  I  think  not.  It  is  a  vastly  better  thing  to  see 
"  Jesus  only,"  as  a  matter  of  perpetuity,  than  to  see  Moses  and  Elias 
with  Jesus.  It  is  night,  I  know  it,  for  1  see  the  moon  and  stars.  The 
morning  cometh,  I  know  it  cometh,  for  I  sec  no  longer  many  stars,  only 
one  remains,  and  that  the  morning  star.  But  the  full  day  has  arrived,  I 
know  it  has,  for  I  cannot  even  sec  the  morning  star;  all  those  guardians 


JESUS  ONLY.  199 

and  comforters  of  the  night  have  disappeared ;  I  see  the  sun  only. 
Now,  inasmuch  as  every  man  prefers  the  noon  to  midnight  and  to  the 
twilight  of  dawn,  the  disappearance  of  Moses  and  Elias,  indicating  the  full 
noontide  of  light,  was  the  best  thing  that  could  happen.  Why  should 
we  wish  to  see  Moses?  The  ceremonials  are  all  fulfilled  in  Jesus;  the 
law  is  honoured  and  fulfilled  in  him.  Let  Moses  go,  his  light  is  already 
in  "Jesus  only."  And  why  should  I  wish  to  retain  Elias?  The  prophecies 
are  all  fulfilled  in  Jesus,  and  the  preparation  of  which  Elias  preached 
Jesus  brings  with  himself.  Let,  then,  Elias  go,  his  light  also  is  in  "  Jesus 
only."  It  is  better  to  see  Moses  and  Elias  in  Christ,  than  to  see  Moses 
and  Elias  ivith  Christ.  The  absence  of  some  things  betokens  a  higher 
state  of  things  than  their  presence.  In  all  my  library  I  do  not  know 
that  I  have  a  Lennie's  English  Grammar,  or  a  Mavor's  Spelling  Book, 
or  a  Henry's  First  Latin  Exercises,  nor  do  I  regret  the  absence  of  those 
vaUable  works,  because  I  have  got  beyond  the  need  of  them.  So  the 
Christian  wants  not  the  symbols  of  Moses,  or  the  preparations  of  Elias, 
for  Christ  is  all,  and  we  are  complete  in  him.  He  who  is  conversant 
with  the  higher  walks  of  sacred  literature  and  reads  in  the  golden  book 
of  Christ's  heart,  may  safely  lay  the  legal  school-book  by ;  this  was 
good  enough  for  the  church's  infancy,  but  we  have  now  put  away 
childish  things.  "We,  when  we  were  children,  were  in  bondage 
under  the  elements  of  the  world  :  but  when  the  fulness  of  the  time  was 
come,  God  sent  forth  his  Son,  made  of  a  woman,  made  under  the  law, 
to  redeem  them  that  were  under  the  law,  that  we  might  receive  the 
adoption  of  sons.  And  because  ye  are  sons,  God  hath  sent  forth  the 
Spirit  of  his  Son  into  your  hearts,  crying,  Abba,  Father.  Wherefore 
thou  art  no  more  a  servant,  but  a  son ;  and  if  a  son,  then  an  heir  of 
God  through  Christ."  My  brethren,  the  principle  may  be  carried  still 
further,  for  even  the  most  precious  things  we  treasure  here  below  will  dis- 
appear when  fully  realised  in  heaven.  Beautiful  for  situation  was  the  tem- 
ple on  Mount  Zion,  and  though  we  believe  not  in  the  sanctity  of  buildings 
under  the  gospel,  we  love  the  place  of  solemn  meeting  where  we  are 
accustomed  to  offer  prayer  and  praise ;  but  when  we  enter  into  perfec- 
tion we  shall  find  no  temple  in  heaven.  We  delight  in  our  Sabbaths, 
and  we  would  not  give  them  up.  0  may  England  never  lose  her 
Sabbaths !  but  when  we  reach  the  Jerusalem  above,  we  shall  not  observe 
the  first  day  of  the  week  above  the  rest,  for  we  shall  enjoy  one  ever- 
lasting Sabbath.  No  temple,  because  all  temple ;  and  no  Sabbath-day, 
because  all  Sabbath  in  heaven.  Thus  you  see  the  losing  of  some 
things  is  gain :  it  proves  that  we  have  got  beyond  their  help.  Just  as 
we  get  beyond  the  nursery  and  all  its  appurtenances,  and  never  regret 
it,  because  we  have  become  men,  so  do  Moses  and  Elias  pass  away,  but 
we  do  not  miss  them,  for  "  Jesus  only  "  indicates  our  manhood.  It 
is  a  sign  of  a  higher  growth  when  we  can  see  Jesus  only.  My 
brethren,  much  of  this  sort  of  thing  takes  place  with  all  Christians 
in  their  spiritual  life.  Do  you  remember  when  you  were  first 
of  all  convinced  and  awakened,  what  a  great  deal  you  thought  of 
the  preacher,  and  how  much  of  the  very  style  in  which  he  spoke  the 
gospel !  But  now,  though  you  delight  to  listen  to  his  voice,  and  find 
that  God  blesses  you  through  him,  yet  you  have  sunk  the  thought  of 
the  preacher  iu  the  glory  of  thg  Master,  you  see  no  man  save  "  Jesue 


200  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE  PULPIT. 

only."  And  as  you  grow  in  grace  you  will  find  that  many  doctrines 
and  points  of  church  government  which  once  appeared  to  you  to  be  all 
important,  though  you  will  still  value  them,  will  seem  but  of  small 
consequence  compared  with  Christ  himself.  Like  the  traveller  ascend- 
ing the  Alps  to  reach  the  summit  of  Mont  Blanc  ;  at  first  he  observes 
tiiat  lord  of  the  hills  as  one  horn  among  many,  and  often  in  the  twist- 
ings  of  his  upward  path  he  sees  other  peaks  which  appear  more 
elevated  than  that  monarch  of  mountains ;  but  when  at  last  he  is  near 
the  summit,  he  sees  all  the  rest  of  the  hills  beneath  his  feet,  and  like  a 
mighty  wedge  of  alabaster  Mont  Blanc  pierces  the  very  clouds.  So,  as 
we  grow  in  grace,  other  things  sink  and  Jesus  rises.  They  must 
decrease,  but  Christ  must  increase ;  until  he  alone  fills  the  full  horizon 
of  your  soul,  and  rises  clear  and  bright  and  glorious  up  into  the  very 
heaven  of  God.     0  that  we  may  thus  see  "  Jesus  only  !  " 

II.  Time  hastens  so  rapidly,  this  morning,  that  I  know  not  how  I 
shall  be  able  to  compress  the  rest  of  my  discourse  into  the  allotted 
space.    We  must  in  the  most  rapid  manner  speak  upon  WHAT  really 

HAPPENED. 

"  They  saw  no  man,  save  Jesus  only."  This  was  all  they  wanted  to 
see  for  their  comfort.  They  were  sore  afraid :  Moses  was  gone,  and  he 
could  give  them  no  comfort ;  Elias  was  gone,  he  could  speak  no  con- 
solatory word;  yet  when  Jesus  said,  "Be  not  afraid,"  their  fears 
vanished.  All  the  comfort,  then,  that  any  troubled  heart  wants,  it  can 
find  in  Christ.  Go  not  to  Moses,  nor  Elias,  neither  to  the  old 
covenant,  nor  to  prophecy :  go  straight  away  to  Jesus  only.  He  was 
all  the  Saviour  they  wanted.  Those  three  men  all  needed  washing  from 
sin ;  all  needed  to  be  kept  and  held  on  their  way,  but  neither  Moses 
nor  Elias  could  have  washed  them  from  sin,  nor  have  kept  them  from 
returning  to  it.  But  Jesus  only  could  cleanse  them,  and  did ;  Christ 
could  lead  them  on,  and  did.  Ah  !  brethren,  all  the  Saviour  we  want, 
we  find  in  Jesus  only.  The  priests  of  Rome  and  their  Anglican 
mimics  officiously  offer  us  their  services.  How  glad  they  would  be  if 
we  would  bend  our  necks  once  again  to  their  yoke  I  But  we  thank  God 
we  have  seen  "  Jesus  only,"  and  if  Moses  has  gone,  and  if  Elias  has 
gone,  we  are  not  likely  to  let  the  shavelings  of  Rome  come  in  and  fill 
up  the  vacancy.  **  Jesus  only,"  is  enough  for  our  comfort,  without 
either  Anglican,  Mosaic,  or  Roman  priestcraft. 

He,  again,  was  to  them,  as  they  went  afterwards  into  the  world 
enough  for  a  Master.  "  No  man  can  serve  two  masters,"  and  albeit, 
Moses  and  Elias  might  sink  into  the  second  rank,  yet  might  there  have 
been  some  difficulty  in  the  follower's  mind  if  the  leadership  were 
divided.  But  when  they  had  no  leader  but  Jesus,  his  guidance,  his 
direction  and  command  were  auite  sufficient.  lie,  in  the  day  of  battle, 
was  enough  for  their  captain ;  in  the  day  of  difficulty,  enough  for  theic 


JESUS  ONLt  201 

direction.  They  wanted  none  but  Jesus.  At  this  day,  my  brethren, 
we  have  no  Master  but  Christ ;  we  submit  ourselves  to  no  vicar  of  God-, 
we  bow  down  ourselves  before  no  great  leader  of  a  sect,  neither  U 
Calvin,  nor  to  Arminius,  to  Wesley,  or  Whitfield.  "  One  is  our  Master,'' 
and  that  one  is  enough,  for  we  have  learned  to  see  the  wisdom  of  God 
and  the  power  of  God  in  Jesus  only. 

He  was  enough  as  their potver  for  future  life,  as  well  as  their  Master. 
They  needed  not  ask  Moses  to  lend  them  official  dignity,  nor  to  ask 
Elias  to  bring  them  fire  from  heaven,  Jesus  would  give  them  of  his 
Holy  Spirit,  and  they  should  be  strong  enough  for  every  enterprise. 
And,  brethren,  all  the  power  you  and  I  want  to  preach  the  gospel,  and 
to  conquer  souls  to  the  truth,  we  can  find  in  Jesus  only.  You  want  no 
sacred  state-prestige,  no  pretended  apostolical  succession,  no  prelatical 
unction;  Jesus  will  anoint  you  with  his  Holy  Spirit,  and  you  shall  be 
plenteously  endowed  with  power  from  on  high,  so  that  you  shall  do 
great  things  and  prevail.  "Jesus  only."  Why,  they  wanted  no  other 
motive  to  constrain  them  to  use  their  power  aright.  It  is  enough  in- 
centive to  a  man  to  be  allowed  to  live  for  such  a  one  as  Christ.  Only 
let  the  thought  of  Christ  fill  the  enlightened  intellect,  and  it  must 
conquer  the  sanctified  affections.  Let  but  Jesus  be  well  understood  as 
the  everlasting  God  who  bowed  the  heavens,  and  came  down  and 
suflFered  shame,  and  ignominy,  that  he  might  redeem  us  from  the  wrath 
to  come;  let  us  get  but  a  sight  of  the  thorn-crowned  head,  and  those 
dear  eyes  all  red  with  weeping,  and  those  sweet  cheeks  bruised  and 
battered  by  the  scofifers'  fists ;  let  us  but  look  into  the  tender  heart 
that  was  broken  with  griefs  unutterable  for  our  sakes,  and  the 
love  of  Christ  must  constrain  us,  and  we  shall  thus  "  judge,  that 
if  one  died  for  all,  then  were  all  dead :  and  that  he  died  for  all, 
that  they  which  live  should  not  henceforth  live  unto  themselves, 
but  unto  him  which  died  for  them,  and  rose  again."  In  the  point 
of  motive  believers  do  not  need  the  aid  of  Moses.  That  you 
ought  to  do  such  a  thing  because  otherwise  you  will  be  punished 
will  but  little  strengthen  you,  nor  will  you  be  much  aided  by  the 
spirit  of  prophecy  which  leads  you  to  hope  that  in  the  millennial 
period  you  will  be  made  a  ruler  over  many  cities.  It  will  be 
enough  to  you  that  you  serve  the  Lord  Christ ;  it  suffices  you  if 
you  may  be  enabled  to  honour  him,  to  deck  his  crown,  to  magnify 
his  name.  Here  is  stimulus  sufficient  for  martyrs  and  confessors, 
*'  Jesus  only."  Brethren,  it  is  all  the  gospel  we  have  to  preach, 
it  is  all  the  gospel  we  want  to  preach — it  is  the  only  ground  of 
confidence  which  we  have  for  ourselves ;  it  is  all  the  hope  we  have 
to  set  before  others.  I  know  that  in  this  age  there  is  an  overweening 
desire  for  that  which  has  the  aspect  of  being  intellectual,  deep,  and 
novel ;  and  we  are  often  informed  that  there  are  to  be  developments 


MS  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE  PULPIT. 

in  religion  even  as  in  science  ;  and  we  are  despised  as  being  hardly 
men,  certainly  nob  thinking  men,  if  ^ve  preach  to-day  what  was 
preached  two  hundred  years  ago.  Brethren,  we  preach  to-day  what 
was  preached  eighteen  hundred  years  ago,  and  wherein  others  make 
alterations  they  create  deformities,  and  not  improvements.  We  are  not 
ashamed  to  avow  that  the  old  truth  of  Christ  alone  is  everlasting;  all 
else  has  gone  or  shall  go,  but  the  gospel  towers  above  the  wrecks  of 
time  :  to  us  "  Jesus  only  "  remains  as  the  sole  topic  of  our  ministry, 
and  we  want  nothing  else. 

For  "  Jesus  only  "  shall  be  our  reward,  to  be  with  him  where  he  is, 
to  behold  his  glory,  to  be  like  him  when  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is,  we 
ask  no  other  heaven.  No  other  bliss  can  our  soul  conceive  of.  The 
Lord  grant  we  may  have  a  fulness  of  this,  and  "  Jesus  only"  shall  be 
throughout  eternity  our  delight. 

There  was  here  space  to  have  dilated  at  great  length,  but  we  have 
rather  given  you  the  heads  of  thought  than  the  thoughts  themselves. 
Though  the  apostles  saw  **  Jesus  only,"  they  saw  quite  sufficient,  for 
Jesus  is  enough  for  time  and  eternity,  enough  to  live  by  and  enough 
to  die  by. 

III.  I  must  close,  though  I  would  fain  linger.  Brethren,  let  us 
think  of  WHAT  we  desire  may  happen  to  all  now  present. 

I  do  desire  for  my  fellow  Christians  and  for  myself,  that  more  and  more 
the  great  object  of  our  thoughts,  motives,  and  acts  may  be  "Jesus  only." 
I  believe  that  whenever  our  religion  is  most  vital  it  is  most  full  of 
Christ.  Moreover,  when  it  is  most  practical,  downright,  and  common 
sense,  it  always  gets  nearest  to  Jesus.  I  can  bear  witness  that  when- 
ever I  am  in  deeps  of  sorrow,  nothing  will  do  for  me  but  "Jesus  only." 
I  can  rest  in  some  degree  in  the  externals  of  religion,  its  outward 
escarpments  and  bulwarks,  when  I  am  in  health ;  but  I  retreat  to  the 
innermost  citadel  of  our  holy  faith,  namely,  to  the  very  heart  of  Christ, 
when  my  spirit  is  assailed  by  temptation,  or  besieged  with  sorrow  and 
anguish.  What  is  more,  my  witness  is  that  whenever  I  have  high 
spiritual  enjoyments,  enjoyments  rich,  rare,  celestial,  they  are  always 
connected  with  Jesus  only,  other  religious  things  may  give  some  kind 
of  joy,  and  joy  that  is  healthy  too,  but  the  sublimest,  the  most  inebriat- 
ing, the  most  divine  of  all  joys,  must  be  found  in  Jesus  only.  In  fine, 
I  find  if  I  want  to  labour  much,  I  must  live  on  Jesus  only ;  if  I  desire 
to  suffer  patiently,  I  must  feed  on  Jesus  only ;  if  I  wish  to  wrestle  with 
God  successfully,  I  must  plead  Jesus  only ;  if  I  aspire  to  conquer  sin,  I 
must  use  the  blood  of  Jesus  only ;  if  I  pant  to  learn  the  mysteries  of 
heaven,  I  must  seek  the  teachings  of  Jesus  only.  I  believe  that  any- 
thing which  we  add  to  Christ  lowers  our  position,  and  that  the  more 
elevated  our  soul  becomes,  the  more  nearly  like  what  it  is  to  be  when 
it  shall  enter  into  the  region  of  the  perfect,  the  more  completely 


JESUS  ONLY.  20S 

everything  else  will  sink,  die  oat,  and  Jesus,  Jesus,  Jesus  only,  will 
be  first  and  last,  and  midst  and  without  end,  the  Alpha  and  Omega 
of  every  thought  of  head  and  pulse  of  heart.  May  it  be  so  with  every 
Christian ! 

There  are  others  here  who  are  not  yet  believers  in  Jesus,  and  our 
desire  is  that  this  may  happen  to  them,  that  they  may  see  "  Jesus 
only."  **  Oh,"  saith  one,  "  Sir,  I  want  to  see  my  sins.  My  heart  is 
very  hard,  and  very  proud ;  I  want  to  see  my  sins."  Friend,  I  also 
desire  that  you  should,  but  I  desire  that  you  may  see  them  not  on 
yourself,  but  on  Jesus  only.  No  sight  of  sin  ever  brings  such  true  "^ 
humiliation  of  spirit  as  when  the  soul  sees  its  sins  laid  on  the  Saviour. 
Sinner,  I  know  you  have  thought  of  sins  as  lying  on  yourself,  and  you 
have  been  trying  to  feel  their  weight,  but  there  is  a  happier  and  better 
view  still.  Sin  was  laid  on  Jesus,  and  it  made  him  to  be  covered  with  a 
bloody  sweat;  it  nailed  him  to  the  cross;  it  made  him  cry,,  "  Lama  Sabach- 
thani ;"  it  bowed  him  into  the  dust  of  death.  Why,  friend,  if  you  see  sin-  on 
Jesus  you  will  hate  it,  you  will  bemoan  it,  you  will  abhor  it.  You  need  not 
look  evermore  to  sin  as  burdening  yourself,  see  Jesus  only,  and  the  best  "t" 
kind  of  repentance  will  follow.  "  Ah,  but,"  saith  another,  "  I  want  to 
feel  my  need  of  Christ  more."  You  will  see  your  need  all  the  better  if 
you  look  at  Jesus  only.  Many  a  time  an  appetite  for  a  thing  is  created 
by  the  sight  of  it.  Why,  there  are  some  of  us  who  can  hardly  be  trusted 
in  a  bookseller's  shop,  because  though  we  might  have  done  very  well 
at  home  without  a  certain  volume,  we  no  sooner  sec  it  than  we  are  in 
urgent  need  of  it.  So  often  is  it  with  some  of  you  about  other  matters, 
so  that  it  becomes  most  dangerous  to  let  you  see,  because  you  want  as 
soon  as  you  see.  A  sight  of  Jesus,  of  what  he  is  to  sinners,  of  what 
ho  makes  sinners,  of  what  he  is  in  himself,  will  more  tend  to  make  you 
feel  your  need  of  him  than  all  your  poring  over  your  poor  miserable 
self.  You  will  get  no  further  there,  look  to  "  Jesus  only."  "  Ay,"  saith 
another,  **  but  I  want  to  read  my  title  clear,  I  want  to  know  that  I 
have  an  interest  in  Jesus."  You  will  best  read  your  interest  in  Christ, 
by  looking  at  him.  If  I  want  to  know  whether  a  certain  estate  is  mine, 
do  I  look  into  my  own  heart  to  see  if  I  have  a  right  to  it  ?  but  I  look 
into  the  archives  of  the  estate,  I  search  testaments  and  covenants. 
Now,  Christ  Jesus  is  God's  covenant  with  the  people,  a  leader  and 
commander  to  the  people.  To-day,  I  personally  can  read  my  title  clear 
to  heaven,  and  shall  I  tell  you  how  I  read  it  ?  Not  because  I  feel  all  I 
wish  to  feel,  nor  because  I  am  what  I  hope  I  yet  shall  be,  but  I  read 
in  the  word  that  "  Jesus  Christ  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners,"  I 
am  a  sinner,  even  the  devil  cannot  tell  me  I  am  not.  0  precious  Saviour, 
then  thou  hast  come  to  save  such  as  I  am.  Then  I  see  it  written  again,  "He 
that  believeth  and  is  baptised,  shall  be  saved."  I  have  believed,  and  have 
been  baptised;  I  know  I  trust  alone  in  Jesus,  and  that  is  believing. 


204  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE  PULPIT, 

As  surely  then  as  there  is  a  God  in  heaven  I  shall  be  in  heaven  one 
day.  It  must  be  so,  because  unless  God  be  a  liar,  he  that  believeth 
must  be  saved.  You  see  it  is  not  by  looking  within,  it  is  by  looking 
to  Jesus  only  that  you  perceive  at  last  your  name  graven  on  his  hands. 
I  wish  to  have  Christ's  name  written  on  my  heart,  but  if  I  want 
assurance,  I  have  to  look  at  his  heart  till  I  see  my  name  written  there. 
0  turn  your  eye  away  from  your  sin  and  your  emptiness  to  his  right- 
eousness and  his  fulness.  See  the  sweat  drops  bloody  as  they  fall  in 
Gethsemane,  see  his  heart  pierced  and  pouring  out  blood  and  water  foi 
the  sins  of  men  upon  Calvary  I  There  is  life  in  a  look  at  him  !  0 
look  to  him,  and  though  it  be  Jesus  only,  though  Moses  should  condemn 

^  you,  and  Elias  should  alarm  you,  yet  "  Jesus  only"  shall  be  enough  to 
comfort  and  enough  to  save  you.  May  God  grant  us  grace  every  one 
of  us  to  take  for  our  motto  in  life,  for  our  hope  in  death,  and  for  our 

•y  joy  in  eternity,  "  Jesus  only."  May  God  bless  you  for  the  sake  of 
''I  "Jesus  only."    Amen. 


Portion  op  Scripture  read  before  Sermon— Matthevt  tvA, 


gH^trxruolitrnt  SHh)[uarIe  fttluit. 


FAITH:    WHAT  IS  IT?     HOW  CAN  IT  BE  OBTAINED? 


Delivered  on  Lord's-day  Morning,  July  ITtii,  1881,  Bf 

C.    H.    SPURGEON, 

AT  THE  METROPOLITAN   TABERNACLE,   NEWINGTON. 


•'By  grace  are  ye  saved  through  faith." — Ephesians  ii.  8. 

I  MEAN  to  dwell  mainly  upon  that  expression,  "  Through  faith."  I  call 
attention,  however,  first  of  all,  to  the  fountain  head  of  our  salvation,  which 
is  the  grace  of  God.  "  By  grace  are  ye  saved."  Because  God  is  gracious, 
therefore  sinful  men  are  forgiven,  converted,  purified,  and  saved.  It  is  not 
because  of  anything  in  them,  or  that  ever  can  be  in  them,  that  they  are 
Baved ;  but  because  of  the  boundless  love,  goodness,  pity,  compassion,  mercy, 
and  grace  of  God.  Tarry  a  moment,  then,  at  the  well-head.  Behold  the 
pure  river  of  water  of  life  as  it  proceeds  out  of  the  throne  of  God  and 
of  the  Lamb.  What  an  abyss  is  the  grace  of  God  !  Who  can  fathom 
it  ?  Like  all  the  rest  of  the  divine  attributes,  it  is  infinite.  God  is  full 
of  love,  for  "  God  is  love";  God  is  full  of  goodness,  and  the  very  name 
"  God  "  is  but  short  for  "  good."  Unbounded  goodness  and  love  enter 
into  the  very  essence  of  the  Godhead.  It  is  because  **  his  mercy  endureth 
for  ever  "  that  men  are  not  destroyed ;  because  "  his  compassions  fail 
not"  that  sinners  are  brought  to  himself  and  forgiven.  Eight  well 
remember  this,  for  else  you  may  fall  into  error  by  fixing  your  minds 
BO  much  upon  the  faith  which  is  the  channel  of  salvation  as  to  forget  the 
grace  which  is  the  fountain  and  source  even  of  faith  itself.  Faith  is  the 
work  of  God's  grace  in  us.  No  man  can  say  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ  but 
by  the  Holy  Ghost.  *•  No  man  cometh  unto  me,"  saith  Christ,  "  except 
the  Father  which  hath  sent  me  draw  him."  So  that  faith,  which  is 
coming  to  Christ,  is  the  result  of  divine  drawing.  Grace  is  the  first 
and  last  moving  cause  of  salvation,  and  faith,  important  as  it  is,  is  only 
an  important  part  of  the  machinery  which  grace  employs.  We  are  saved 
"  through  faith,"  but  it  is  "  by  grace."  Sound  forth  those  words  as 
with  the  archangel's  trumpet :  "  By  grace  are  ye  saved." 

Faith  occupies  the  position  of  a  channel  or  conduit-pipe.    Grace  ia 

the  fountain  and  the  stream:  faith  is  the  aqueduct  along  which  the 

flood  of  mercy  flows  down  to  refresh  the  thirsty  sons  of  men.    It  is  a 

great  pity  when  the  aqueduct  is  broken.     It  is  a  sad  sight  to  see  around 

No.  1,009. 


402  METltOPOLITAN  TABERNACLE  PULPIT. 

Rome  the  many  noble  aqueducts  which  no  longer  convey  water  into  the 
city,  because  the  arches  are  broken  and  the  marvellous  structures  are  in 
ruins.  The  aqueduct  must  be  kept  entire  to  convey  the  current;  and, 
even  so,  faith  must  be  true  and  sound,  leading  right  up  to  God  and 
coming  right  down  to  ourselves,  that  it  may  become  a  serviceable 
channel  of  mercy  to  our  souls.  Still,  I  again  remind  you  that  faith  is 
the  channel  or  aqueduct,  and  not  the  fountain  head,  and  we  must  not 
look  so  much  to  it  as  to  exalt  it  above  the  divine  source  of  all  blessing 
which  lies  in  the  grace  of  God.  Never  make  a  Christ  ont  of  your  faith, 
nor  think  of  it  as  if  it  were  the  independent  source  of  your  salvation. 
Our  life  is  found  in  "looking  unto  Jesus,"  not  in  looking  to  our  own 
faith.  By  faith  all  things  become  possible  to  us  ;  yet  the  power  is  not 
in  the  faith,  but  in  the  God  upon  whom  faith  relies.  Grace  is  the 
locomotive,  and  faith  is  the  chain  by  which  the  carriage  of  the  soul  is 
attached  to  the  great  motive  power.  The  righteousness  of  faith  is  not 
the  moral  excellence  of  faith,  but  the  righteousness  of  Jesus  Christ  which 
faith  grasps  and  appropriates.  The  peace  within  the  soul  is  not  derived 
frcnn  the  contemplation  of  our  own  faith,  but  it  comes  to  us  from  him 
<\ho  is  our  peace,  the  hem  of  whose  garment  faith  touches,  and  virtue 
comes  out  of  him  into  the  soul. 

However,  it  is  a  very  important  thing  that  we  look  well  to  the  channel, 
and  therefore  at  this  time  we  will  consider  it,  as  God,  the  Holy  Ghost, 
shall  enable  us.  Faith,  tohat  is  it?  Faith,  ivhy  is  it  selected  as  the 
channel  of  blessing?  Faith,  hoiu  can  it  he  obtained  and  increased? 

I.  Faith,  what  is  it  ?  AVhat  is  this  faith  concerning  which  it  is 
said,  "  By  grace  are  ye  saved  through  faith  "?  There  are  many  de- 
scriptious  of  faith,  but  almost  all  the  definitions  I  have  met  with 
have  made  me  understand  it  less  than  I  did  before  I  saw  them.  The 
negro  said  when  he  read  the  chapter  that  he  would  confound  it,  and 
it  is  very  likely  that  he  did  so,  though  he  meant  to  expound  it.  So, 
brethren,  we  may  explain  faith  till  nobody  understands  it.  I  hope  I 
shall  not  be  guilty  of  that  fault.  Faith  is  the  simplest  of  all  things,  and 
perhaps  because  of  its  simplicity  it  is  the  more  difficult  to  explain. 

Wiiat  is  faith?  //  is  made  up  of  three  things — Jcnoiv ledge,  belief, 
and  trust.  Knowledge  comes  first.  Komanist  divines  hold  that  a  man 
can  believe  Avhat  he  does  not  know.  Perhaps  a  Eomanist  can ;  but 
I  cannot.  "  How  shall  they  believe  in  him  of  whom  they  have  not 
heard?"  I  want  to  be  informed  of  a  fact  before  I  can  possibly 
believe  it.  I  believe  this,  I  believe  that;  but  I  cannot  say  that  I 
believe  a  great  many  things  of  which  I  have  never  heard.  "  Faith 
Cometh  by  hearing":  we  must  first  hear,  in  order  that  we  may  know 
what  is  to  be  believed.  "They  that  know  thy  name  will  put  their  trust 
in  thee."  A  measure  of  knowledge  is  essential  to  faith  :  hence  the  im- 
portance of  getting  knowledge.  "  Incline  your  ear,  and  come  unto  mc  ; 
hear,  and  your  soul  shall  live," — such  was  the  word  of  the  ancient 
prophet,  and  it  is  the  word  of  the  gospel  still.  Search  the  Scriptures  and 
learn  what  the  Holy  Spirit  teacheth  concerning  Christ  and  his  salvation. 
Seek  to  know  God, — "that  God  is,  aud  is  the  rcwarder  of  them  that 
diligently  seek  him."  May  he  give  you  "  the  spirit  of  knowledge  and 
of  the  fear  of  the  Lord,"  Know  the  gospel :  know  what  the  good  newa 
is,  how  it  talks  of  free  forgiveness,  and  of  change  of  heart,  of  adoption 


FAITH:  WHAT  IS  IT?  HOW  CAN  IT  BE  OBTAINED?  403 

Into  the  family  of  God,  and  of  countless  other  blessings.  Know  God, 
know  his  gospel,  and  know  especially  Christ  Jesus  the  Son  of  God,  the 
Saviour  of  men,  united  to  us  by  his  human  nature,  and  united  to  God, 
seeing  he  is  divine,  and  thus  able  to  act  as  mediator  between  God  and 
man,  able  to  lay  his  hand  upon  both,  and  to  be  the  connecting  link 
between  the  sinner  and  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth.  Endeavour  to  know 
more  and  more  of  Christ.  After  Paul  had  been  converted  more  than 
twenty  years,  he  tells  the  Philippians  that  he  desired  to  know  Christ; 
and  depend  upon  it,  the  more  we  know  of  Jesus,  the  more  we  shall  wish 
to  know  of  him,  that  so  our  faith  in  him  may  increase.  Endeavour 
especially  to  know  the  doctrine  of  the  sacrifice  of  Christ,  for  that  is  the 
centre  of  the  target  at  which  faith  aims ;  that  is  the  point  upon  which 
saving  faith  mainly  fixes  itself,  that  "  God  was  in  Christ,  reconciling  the 
world  unto  himself,  not  imputing  their  trespasses  unto  them."  Know 
that  he  was  made  a  curse  for  us,  as  it  is  written,  "  Cursed  is  everyone 
that  hangeth  on  a  tree."  Drink  deep  into  the  doctrine  of  the  substi- 
tutionary work  of  Christ,  for  therein  lies  the  sweetest  possible  comfort 
to  the  guilty  sons  of  men,  since  the  Lord  "  made  him  to  be  sm  for.  us 
that  we  might  be  made  the  righteousness  of  God  in  him."  Faith,  then, 
begins  with  knowledge ;  hence  the  value  of  being  taught  in  divine  truth; 
for  to  know  Christ  is  life  eternal. 

Then  the  mind  goes  on  to  helievB  that  these  things  are  true.  The 
soul  believes  that  God  is,  and  that  he  hears  the  cries  of  sincere  hearts ; 
that  the  gospel  is  from  God  ;  that  justification  by  faith  is  the  grand  truth 
that  God  hath  revealed  in  these  last  days  by  his  Spirit  more  clearly  than 
before.  Then  the  heart  believes  that  Jesus  is  verily  and  in  truth  our 
God  and  Saviour,  the  Eedeemer  of  men,  the  prophet,  priest,  and  king 
unto  his  people.  Dear  hearers,  I  pray  that  you  may  at  once  come  to 
this.  Get  firmly  to  believe  that  "  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  God's 
dear  Son,  cleanseth  us  from  all  sin";  that  his  sacrifice  is  complete  and 
fully  accepted  of  God  on  man's  behalf,  so  that  he  that  belie veth  on  Jesus 
is  not  condemned.  So  far  you  have  made  an  advance  towards  faith,  and 
one  more  ingredient  is  needed  to  complete  it,  which  is  trust.  Commit 
yourself  to  the  merciful  God ;  rest  your  hope  on  the  gracious  gospel ; 
trust  your  soul  on  the  dying  and  living  Saviour  ;  wash  away  your  sins 
in  the  atoning  blood ;  accept  his  perfect  righteousness,  and  all  is  well. 
Trust  is  the  life-blood  of  faith :  there  is  no  saving  faith  without  it.  The 
Puritans  were  accustomed  to  explain  faith  by  the  word  "  recumbency." 
You  know  what  it  means.  You  see  me  leaning  upon  this  rail,  leaning 
with  all  my  weight  upon  it ;  even  thus  lean  upon  Christ.  It  would  be  a 
better  illustration  still  if  I  were  to  stretch  myself  at  full  length  and  rest 
my  whole  person  upon  a  rock,  lying  flat  upon  it.  Fall  flat  upon  Christ. 
Cast  yourself  upon  him,  rest  in  him,  commit  yourself  to  him.  That 
done,  you  have  exercised  saving  faith.  Faith  is  not  a  bhnd  thing ;  fur 
faith  begins  with  knowledge.  It  is  not  a  speculative  thing ;  for  Jaith 
believes  facts  of  which  it  is  sure.  It  is  not  an  unpractical,  dreamy 
thing  ;  for  faith  trusts,  and  stakes  its  destiny  upon  the  truth  of  revela- 
tion. Faith  ventures  its  all  upon  the  truth  of  God  ;  it  is  not  a  pleasant 
word  to  use,  but  the  poet  employed  it,  and  it  suggests  my  meaning : 

"  Venture  on  him,  venture  wholly ; 
Let  uo  other  trust  hitrude." 


404  JlETROrOIilTAN   TABERNACLK   PULPIT. 

That  is  one  way  of  describing  what  faith  is  :  I  wonder  whether  I  have 
♦'  confounded  "  it  aheady. 

Jjet  me  try  again.  Faith  is  helieving  that  Christ  is  what  he  is  said  to  be, 
that  he  will  do  luliai  he  has  pro77iised  to  do,  and  expecting/  this  of  him. 
The  Scripture.-;  speak  of  Jesus  Christ  as  being  God,  God  in  human  flesh : 
as  being  pei'fect  in  his  character  ;  as  being  made  a  sin-offering  on  our 
behalf;  as  bearing  sin  in  his  own  body  on  the  tree,  Tlie  Scripture 
ppeaks  of  him  as  having  finished  transgression,  made  an  end  of  sin.  and 
brought  in  everlasting  righteousness.  The  Scriptures  further  tell  us 
that  he  "  rose  again,"  that  he  "  ever  liveth  to  make  intercession  for  us," 
that  he  has  gone  up  into  the  glory,  and  has  taken  possession  of  heaven 
on  the  behalf  of  his  people,  and  that  he  will  shortly  come  again  "  to 
judge  the  world  in  righteousness  and  his  people  with  equity."  We 
are  most  firmly  to  believe  that  it  is  even  so  ;  for  this  is  the  testimony  of 
God  the  Father  when  he  said,  "  This  is  my  beloved  Son ;  hear  ye  him." 
Tin's  also  is  testified  by  God  the  Holy  Spirit ;  for  the  Spirit  has  borne 
witness  to  Christ,  both  by  the  Word  and  by  divers  miracles,  and  by  his 
working  in  the  hearts  of  men.  We  are  to  believe  this  testimony  to  be 
true. 

Faith  also  believes  that  Christ  will  do  what  he  has  promised ;  that  if 
he  has  promised  to  cast  out  none  that  come  to  him,  it  is  certain  that  he 
Avill  not  cast  us  out  if  we  come  to  him.  Faith  believes  that  if  Jesus  said, 
"  The  water  that  I  shall  give  him  shall  be  in  him  a  well  of  water  spring- 
ing up  into  everlasting  life,"  it  must  be  true  ;  and  if  we  get  this  living 
water  from  Christ  it  will  abide  in  us,  and  will  well  up  within  us  in 
streams  of  holy  life.  Whatever  Christ  has  promised  to  do  he  will  do, 
and  we  must  believe  this  so  as  to  look  for  pardon,  justification,  preserva- 
tion, and  eternal  glory  from  his  hands,  according  as  he  has  promised. 

Then  comes  the  next  necessary  step.  Jesus  is  what  he  is  said  to  be, 
Jesus  will  do  what  he  says  he  will  do ;  therefore  we  must  each  one  trust 
him,  saying,  "  He  will  be  to  me  what  he  says  he  is,  and  he  will  do  to  me 
what  he  has  promised  to  do ;  I  leave  myself  in  the  hands  of  him  who  is 
appointed  to  save,  that  he  may  save  me.  I  rest  upon  his  promise  that 
he  will  do  even  as  he  has  said."  This  is  a  saving  faith,  and  he  that  hath 
it  hath  everlasting  life.  Whatever  his  dangers  and  difficulties,  what- 
ever his  darkness  and  depression,  whatever  his  infirmities  and  sins,  he 
that  believeth  thus  on  Christ  Jesus  is  not  condemned,  and  shall  never 
come  into  condemnation.  May  that  explanation  be  of  some  service.  I 
trust  it  may  be  used  by  the  Spirit  of  God. 

But  now  I  thought,  as  it  was  a  very  hot  and  heavy  morning,  that  I  had 
better  give  yon  a  number  of  illustrations,  lest  anybody  should  be  inclined 
to  go  to  sleep.  If  anybody  should  be  drowsy,  will  his  next  neighbour 
just  nudge  him  a  little  by  accident;  for  it  may  be  as  well  while  we  arc 
here  to  be  awake,  especially  with  such  a  subject  on  hand  as  this.  The 
illustrations  will  be  such  as  have  been  commonly  used,  and  perhaps  I 
may  be  able  to  give  one  or  two  of  my  own.  Faith  exists  in  various 
degrees,  according  to  the  amount  of  knowledge,  or  other  cause.  Some- 
times faith  is  little  more  than  a  simple  clinging  to  Christ :  a  sense  of 
dependence,  and  a  willingness  so  to  depend.  When  you  are  down  at 
the  seaside,  as  we  might  all  of  us  wish  to  be,  you  will  see  the  limpet 
sticking  to  the  rock ;  you  walk  with  a  "^ft  tread  up  to  the  rock  with 


FAITH:  WHAT  IS  IT?   HOW  CAN  IT  BE  OBTAINED?  4U5 

your  walking  stick  and  strike  the  limpet  with  a  rapid  blow,  and  off  he 
comes.  Try  the  next  limpet  in  that  way.  You  have  given  him  warning ; 
he  heard  the  blow  with  which  you  struck  his  neighbour,  and  he  clinga 
with  all  his  might.  You  will  never  get  him  off ;  not  you !  Strike, 
and  strike  again,  but  you  may  as  soon  break  the  rock.  Our  little  friend, 
the  limpet,  does  not  know  much,  but  he  clings.  He  cannot  tell  ua 
much  about  what  he  is  clinging  to,  he  is  not  acquainted  with  the  geo- 
logical formation  of  the  rock,  but  he  clings.  He  has  found  something 
to  cHng  to,  that  is  his  little  bit  of  knowledge,  and  he  uses  it  by  clinging 
to  the  rock  of  his  salvation ;  it  is  the  limpet's  life  to  cling.  Thousands 
of  God's  people  have  no  more  faith  than  this ;  they  know  enough  to 
cling  to  Jesus  with  all  their  heart  and  soul,  and  this  suffices.  Jesus 
Christ  is  to  them  a  Saviour  strong  and  mighty,  and  like  a  rock  immov- 
able and  immutable ;  they  cleave  to  him  for  dear  life,  and  this  clinging 
saves  them. 

God  gives  to  his  people  the  propensity  to  cling.  Look  at  the  sweet 
pea  which  grows  in  your  garden.  Perhaps  it  has  fallen  down  upon  the 
gravel  walk.  Lift  it  up  against  the  laurel  or  the  treliis,  or  put  a  stick 
near  it,  and  it  catches  hold  directly,  because  there  are  little  hooks 
ready  prepared  with  which  it  grasps  anything  which  comes  in  its 
way  :  it  was  meant  to  grow  upwards,  and  so  it  is  provided  with  tendrils. 
Every  child  of  God  has  his  tendrils  about  him — thoughts,  and  desires, 
and  hopes  with  which  he  hooks  on  to  Christ  and  the  promise.  Though 
this  is  a  very  simple  sort  of  faith,  it  is  a  very  complete  and  effectual 
form  of  it,  and,  in  fact,  it  is  the  heart  of  all  faith,  and  that  to  which 
we  are  often  driven  when  we  are  in  deep  trouble,  or  when  our  mind 
is  somewhat  bemuddled  by  our  being  sickly  or  depressed  in  spirit. 
We  can  cling  when  we  can  do  nothing  else,  and  that  is  the  very  soul 
of  faith.  0  poor  heart,  if  thou  dost  not  yet  know  as  much  about  the 
gospel  as  we  could  wish  thee  to  know,  cling  to  what  thou  dost  know. 
If  as  yet  thou  art  only  like  a  lamb  that  wades  a  little  into  the  river  of 
life,  and  not  like  leviathan  who  stirs  the  mighty  deep  to  the  bottom, 
yet  drink ;  for  it  is  drinking,  and  not  diving,  that  will  save  thee.  Cling, 
then  !     Cling  to  Jesus  ;  for  that  is  faith. 

Another  form  of  faith  is  this,  in  which  a  man  depends  upon  another 
from  a  knowledge  of  the  superiority  of  that  other,  and  follows  him.  I 
do  not  think  the  limpet  knows  much  about  the  rock,  but  in  this  next 
phase  of  faith  there  is  more  knowledge.  A  blind  man  trusts  himself 
with  his  guide  because  he  knows  that  his  friend  can  see,  and  trusting,  he 
walks  where  his  guide  conducts  him.  If  the  poor  man  is  born  blind  he 
does  not  know  what  sight  is ;  but  he  knows  that  there  is  such  a  thing  aa 
sight,  and  that  it  is  possessed  by  his  friend,  and  therefore  he  freely  puts 
his  hand  into  the  hand  of  the  seeing  one,  and  follows  his  leadership. 
This  is  as  good  an  image  of  faith  as  well  can  be ;  we  know  that  Jesaa 
has  about  him  merit,  and  power,  and  blessing  which  we  do  not  possess, 
and  therefore  we  gladly  trust  ourselves  to  him,  and  he  never  betrays  our 
confidence. 

Every  boy  that  goes  to  school  has  to  exert  faith  while  learning.  His 
schoolmaster  teaches  him  geography,  and  instructs  him  as  to  the  form  of 
the  earth,  and  the  existence  of  certain  great  cities  and  empires.  The  boy 
iloQs  act  hioiself  kuow  th^^t  thQse  things  a,re  true,  except  that  he  believqa 


406  METROPOLITAN   TABERNACLE   PULPIT. 

his  teacher,  and  the  books  put  into  liis  hands.  That  is  what  you  will 
have  to  do  with  Christ  if  you  are  to  be  saved — you  must  just  know 
because  he  tells  you,  and  believe  because  he  assures  you  it  is  even  so,  and 
(rust  yourself  with  him  because  he  promises  you  that  salvation  will  be 
the  result.  Almost  all  that  you  and  I  know  has  come  to  us  by  faith. 
A  scientific  discovery  has  been  made,  and  we  are  sure  of  it.  On  what 
ground  do  we  believe  it?  On  the  authority  of  certain  well-known 
men  of  learning,  whose  repute  is  established.  We  have  never  made  or 
seen  their  experiments,  but  we  believe  their  witness.  Just  so  you  are 
to  do  with  regard  to  Christ :  because  he  teaches  you  certain  truths  you 
are  to  be  his  disciple,  and  believe  his  words,  and  trust  yourself  with  hira. 
He  is  infinitely  superior  to  you,  and  presents  himself  to  your  confidence 
03  your  ]\Iaster  and  Lord.  If  you  will  receive  him  ana  his  words  you 
Bhall  be  saved. 

Another  and  a  higher  form  of  faith  is  that  faith  which  c/rows  out  of  love. 
Why  does  a  boy  trust  his  father  ?  You  and  I  know  a  little  more  about 
his  lather  than  he  does,  and  we  do  not  rely  upon  him  quite  so  implicitly; 
but  the  reason  why  the  child  trusts  his  father  is  because  he  loves  him. 
Blessed  and  happy  are  they  who  have  a  sweet  faith  in  Jesus,  intertwined 
with  deep  affection  for  hira.  They  are  charmed  with  his  character  and 
delighted  with  his  mission,  they  are  carried  away  by  the  lovingkindness 
that  he  has  manifested,  and  now  they  cannot  help  trusting  him  because 
they  so  much  admire,  revere,  and  love  him.  It  is  hard  to  make  you  doubt 
a  person  whom  you  love.  If  you  are  at  last  driven  to  it,  then  comes  the 
awful  passion  of  jealousy,  which  is  strong  as  death  and  cruel  as  the  grave  : 
but  till  such  a  crushing  of  the  heart  shall  come,  love  is  all  trustfulness 
and  confidence. 

The  way  of  loving  fci'ust  in  the  Saviour  may  thus  be  illustrated.  A 
lady  is  the  wife  of  the  most  eminent  physician  of  the  day.  She  is  seized 
with  a  dangerous  illness,  and  is  smitten  down  by  its  power ;  yet  she  is 
wonderfully  calm  and  quiet,  for  her  husband  has  made  this  disease  his 
special  study,  and  has  healed  thousands  similarly  atflicted.  She  is  not 
in  the  least  troubled,  for  she  feels  perfectly  safe  in  the  hands  of  one  so 
dear  to  her,  in  whom  skill  and  love  are  blended  in  their  highest  forms. 
Her  faith  is  reasonable  and  natural,  her  husband  from  every  point  of 
view  deserves  it  of  her.  This  is  the  kind  of  faith  which  the  happiest  of 
believers  exercise  towards  Christ.  There  is  no  physician  like  him,  none 
can  save  as  he  can ;  we  love  him,  and  he  loves  us,  and  therefore  we  put 
ourselves  into  his  hands,  accept  whatever  he  prescribes,  and  do  whatever 
he  bids.  We  feel  that  nothing  can  be  wrongly  ordered  while  he  is  the 
director  of  our  affairs,  for  he  loves  us  too  well  to  let  us  perish,  or  suffer 
a  single  needless  pang. 

Faith  also  realizes  the  presence  of  the  living  God  and  Saviour,  and 
thus  it  breeds  in  the  soul  a  beautiful  calm  and  quiet  like  that  which 
was  seen  in  a  little  child  in  the  time  of  tempest.  Her  mother  was 
alarmed,  but  the  sweet  girl  was  pleased ;  she  clapped  her  hands  with 
delight.  Standing  at  the  window  Avhen  the  flashes  came  most  vividly, 
she  cried  in  childish  accents,  "  Look,  mamma  !  How  beautiful !  How 
beautiful !  "  Her  mother  said,  "  My  dear,  come  away,  the  lightning  is 
terrible;"  but  she  begged  to  be  allowed  to  look  out  and  see  the  lovely 
light  wbicli  Go4  w^8  inaking  all  over  the  aky,  for  sh^  W£^3  ^uie  God  would 


FAITH:  WHAT  IS  IT  f   HOW   CAN    IT   BE   OBTAINED?  407 

not  do  his  little  child  any  harm.  "  But  hearken  to  the  terrible  thunder," 
said  her  mother.  '•'  Did  you  not  say,  mamma,  that  God  was  speaking  in 
the  thunder?"  "Yes,"  said  her  trembling  parent.  "0,"  said  the 
darling,  *'  how  nice  it  is  to  hear  him.  He  talks  very  loud,  but  I  think  it 
is  because  he  wants  the  deaf  people  to  hear  him.  Is  it  not  so,  mamma  ?" 
Thus  she  went  talking  on  ;  as  merry  as  a  bird  was  she,  for  God  was  real 
to  her,  and  she  trusted  him.  To  her  the  lightning  was  God's  beautiful 
light,  and  the  thunder  was  God's  wonderful  voice,  and  she  was  happy. 
I  dare  say  her  mother  knew  a  good  deal  about  the  laws  of  nature  and 
the  energy  of  electricity ;  and  little  was  the  comfort  which  her  knowledge 
brought  her.  The  child's  knowledge  was  less  showy,  but  it  was  far  more 
certain  and  precious.  We  are  so  conceited  nowadays  that  we  are  too 
proud  to  be  comforted  by  self-evident  truth,  and  prefer  to  make  ourselves 
wretched  with  questionable  theories.  Hood  sang  a  deep  spiritual  truth 
when  he  merrily  said, 

"  I  remember,  I  remember, 

The  fir  trees  dark  and  higb  ; 
I  used  to  tbink  their  slender  tops 

Were  close  against  the  sky  ; 
It  was  a  childish  ignorance, 

Iiut  now 'tis  little  joy 
To  know  I'm  farther  off  from  heav'n 

Than  when  I  was  a  boy.'' 

For  my  own  part  I  would  rather  be  a  child  again  than  grow  perversely 
wise.  Faith,  is  to  be  a  child  towards  Christ,  believing  in  him  as  a  real 
and  present  person,  at  this  very  moment  near  us,  and  ready  to  bless  us. 
This  may  seem  to  be  a  childish  fancy ;  but  it  is  such  childishness  are  wg 
must  all  coiae  to  if  we  would  be  happy  in  the  Lord  *'  Except  ye  be  con* 
verted,  and  become  as  little  children,  ye  shall  not  enter  into  the  king- 
dom of  heaven."  Faith  takes  Christ  at  his  word,  as  a  child  believes 
his  father,  and  trusts  him  in  all  simplicity  with  past,  present,  and  future. 
God  give  us  such  faith  !  ^.^.-"■^ 

A  firm  form  of  failh  arises  out  of  assured  knowledge ;  this  comes  of 
growth  in  grace,  and  is  the  faith  which  believes  Christ  because  it  knows 
him,  trusts  him  because  it  has  proved  him  to  be  infallibly  faithful.  This 
faith  asks  not  for  signs  and  tokens,  but  bravely  believes.  Look  at  the 
faith  of  the  master  mariner — I  have  often  wondered  at  it.  He  looses 
his  cable,  he  steams  away  from  the  shore.  For  days,  weeks,  or  even 
months  he  never  sees  sail  or  shore,  yet  on  he  goes  day  and  night  without 
fear,  till  one  morning  he  finds  himself  just  opposite  to  the  desired 
haven  towards  which  he  has  been  steering.  How  has  he  found  his  way 
over  the  trackless  deep  ?  He  has  trusted  in  his  compass,  his  nautical 
almanack,  his  glass,  and  the  heavenly  bodies,  and  obeying  tlieir  guidance, 
without  sighting  shore,  he  has  steered  so  accurately  that  he  has  not  to 
change  a  point  to  get  into  port.  It  is  a  wonderful  thing  that  sailing 
without  sight.  Spiritually  it  is  a  blessed  thing  to  leave  the  shores  of 
Bight,  and  say,  "  Good-bye  to  inward  feelings,  cheering  providences,  signs, 
tokens,  and  so  forth :  I  believe  in  God,  and  I  steer  for  heaven  straight 
away."  "  Blessed  are  they  that  have  not  seen  and  yet  have  believed :  " 
to  them  shall  be  administered  an  abundant  entrance  at  the  last,  and  a 
safe  voyage  on  the  way. 


tOfi  METilOPOI.ITAN   TADERXACLE   PULriT. 

This  is  the  faith  which  makes  it  easy  to  commit  our  soul  and  all  its 
darnal  interests  into  the  Savioia-'s  heeping.  One  man  goes  to  the  bank 
and  puts  liis  money  into  it  with  a  measure  of  confidence ;  but  another 
has  looked  into  the  bank's  accounts,  and  has  been  behind  the  scenes  and 
made  sure  of  its  having  a  large  reserve  of  well  invested  capital ;  he  puts  in 
his  money  with  the  utmost  assurance.  He  knows  and  is  established  in  his 
faith,  and  so  he  cheerfully  commits  his  all  to  the  bank.  Even  so,  we 
who  know  Christ  are  glad  to  place  our  whole  being  in  his  hands,  knowing 
that  he  is  able  to  keep  us  even  unto  the  end. 

God  give  us  more  and  more  of  an  assured  confidence  in  Jesus  until 
it  comes  to  be  an  unwavering  faith,  so  that  we  never  doubt,  but  un- 
questioningly  believe.  Look  at  the  ploughman;  he  labours  with  his 
plough  in  the  wintry  months,  when  there  is  not  a  bough  on  the  tree  nor 
a  bird  that  sings  to  cheer  him,  and  after  he  ha.s  ploughed  he  takes  the 
precious  corn  from  the  granary,  of  which  perhaps  he  hath  little  enough, 
and  he  buries  it  in  the  furrows,  assured  that  it  will  come  up  again. 
Because  he  has  seen  a  harvest  fifty  times  already  he  looks  for  another, 
and  in  faith  he  scatters  the  precious  grain.  To  all  appearance,  the  most 
absurd  thing  that  ever  was  done  by  mortal  man  is  to  throw  away  good 
corn,  burying  it  in  the  ground.  If  you  had  never  seen  or  heard  of  its 
results,  it  would  seem  the  way  of  waste  and  not  the  work  of  husbandry ; 
yet  the  farmer  has  no  doubt,  he  longs  to  be  allowed  to  cast  away  his  seed, 
in  faith  he  even  covets  fair  weather  that  he  may  bury  his  corn ;  and  if  you 
tell  him  that  he  is  doing  an  absurd  thing,  he  smiles  at  your  ignorance,  and 
tells  you  that  thus  harvests  come.  This  is  a  fair  picture  of  the  faith 
which  grov,'s  of  experience  :  it  helps  us  to  act  in  a  manner  contrary  to 
appearances,  it  leads  us  to  commit  our  all  to  the  keeping  of  Christ, 
burying  our  hopes  and  our  very  lives  with  him  in  joyful  confidence  that 
if  we  be  dead  with  him  we  shall  also  live  with  him.  Jesus  Christ  who 
rose  from  the  dead  will  raise  us  up  through  his  death  unto  newness  of  life, 
and  give  ua  a  harvest  of  joy  and  peace. 

Give  up  everything  into  the  hand  of  Christ,  and  you  shall  have  it  back 
with  an  abundant  increase.  May  we  get  strong  faith,  so  that  as  we  have 
no  doubt  of  the  rising  and  setting  of  the  sun,  so  we  may  never  doubt  the 
Saviour's  working  for  us  in  every  hour  of  need.  AVe  have  already 
trusted  in  our  Lord,  and  have  never  been  confounded,  therefore  let  us  go 
on  to  rely  upon  him  more  and  more  implicitly  ;  for  never  shall  our  faith 
in  him  surpass  the  bounds  of  his  deservings.  Have  faith  in  God,  and 
then  hear  Jesus  say,  "Ye  believe  in  God,  believe  also  in  me." 

IL  Thus  far  have  I  done  my  best  to  answer  what  faith  is ;  we  shall 
now  enquire,  why  faith  is  selected  as  the  channel  of  salva- 
tion ?  "  By  grace  are  ye  saved  through  faith.''  It  becomes  us  to  be 
modest  in  answering  such  a  question,  for  God's  ways  are  not  always  to 
be  understood ;  but,  as  tar  as  we  can  tell,  faith  has  been  selected  as  the 
channel  of  grace  because  there  is  a  natural  adaptation  in  faith  to  be 
used  as  the  receiver.  Suppose  that  I  am  about  to  give  a  poor  man  an 
alms :  I  put  it  into  his  hand— why  ?  Well,  it  would  hardly  be  fitting  to 
put  it  into  his  ear,  or  to  lay  it  upon  his  foot;  the  hand  seems  made  on 
Durpose  to  receive.  So  faith  in  the  mental  body  is  created  on  purpose  to 
be  a  receiver:  it  is  the  hand  of  the  man,  and  there  is  a  fitness  in 
bestowing  grace  by  its  means.    Do  let  me  put  this  very  plainly,     i'uitb 


FAITH:   WHAT   IS   IT?   ilOW  CAX    IT   BE   OBTAINED?  403 

which  receives  Christ  is  as  simple  an  act  as  when  your  child  receives  an 
apple  from  yon,  because  you  hold  it  out  and  promise  to  give  it  the  apple 
if  it  comes  for  it.  The  belief  and  the  receivinir  relate  only  to  an  apple, 
but  they  make  up  precisely  the  same  act  as  the  ftiith  which  deals  with 
eternal  salvation,  and  what  the  child's  hand  is  to  the  apple,  that  your 
faith  is  to  the  perfect  salvation  of  Christ.  The  child's  hand  does  noc 
make  the  apple,  nor  alter  the  apple,  it  only  takes  it ;  and  faith  is  chosen 
by  God  to  be  the  receiver  of  salvation,  because  it  does  not  pretend  to 
make  salvation,  nor  to  help  in  it,  but  it  receives  it. 

Faith,  again,  is  doubtless  selected  because  it  gives  all  the  glory  to  God. 
It  is  of  faith  that  it  might  be  by  grace,  and  it  is  of  grace  that  there  may 
DC  no  boasting ;  for  God  cannot  endure  pride.  Paul  saith,  "  Not  of 
works,  lest  any  man  should  boast."  The  hand  which  receives  charity 
does  not  say,  "I  am  to  be  thanked  for  accepting  the  gift  ";  that  would 
be  absurd.  When  the  hand  conveys  bread  to  the  mouth  it  does  not  say 
to  the  body,  "Thank  me,  for  I  feed  you."  It  is  a  very  simple  thing 
that  the  hand  does,  though  a  very  necessary  thing ;  but  it  never  arro- 
gates glory  to  itself  for  what  it  does.  So  God  has  selected  faith  to 
receive  the  unspeakable  gift  of  his  grace  because  it  cannot  take  to  itself 
any  credit,  but  must  adore  the  gracious  God  who  is  the  giver  of  all  good. 

Next,  God  selects  faith  as  the  channel  of  salvation  because  it  is  a  sure 
method,  linking  man  with  God.  When  man  confides  in  God  there  is  a 
point  of  union  between  them,  and  that  union  guarantees  blessing.  Faith 
saves  us  because  it  makes  us  cling  to  God,  and  so  brings  us  into  con- 
nection with  him.  I  have  used  the  following  illustration  before,  but  I 
must  repeat  it,  because  I  cannot  think  of  a  better.  I  am  told  that  years 
ago  above  the  Falls  of  Niagara  a  boat  was  upset,  and  two  men  were 
being  carried  down  the  current,  when  persons  on  the  shore  managed  to 
float  a  rope  out  to  them,  which  rope  was  seized  by  them  both.  One  of 
them  held  fast  to  it  and  was  safely  drawn  to  the  bank ;  but  the  other, 
seeing  a  great  log  come  floating  by,  unwisely  let  go  the  rope  and  clung 
to  the  log,  for  it  was  the  bigger  thing  of  the  two,  and  apparently  better 
to  cling  to.  Alas,  the  log  with  the  man  on  it,  went  right  over  the  vast 
abyss,  because  there  was  no  union  between  the  log  and  the  shore.  The 
size  of  the  log  was  no  benefit  to  him  who  grasped  it;  it  needed  a  con- 
nection with  the  shore  to  produce  safety.  So  when  a  man  trusts  to  his 
works,  or  to  sacraments,  or  to  anything  of  that  sort,  he  will  not  be  saved, 
because  there  is  no  junction  between  him  and  Christ ;  but  faith,  though 
it  may  seem  to  be  like  a  slender  cord,  is  in  the  hand  of  the  great  God  on 
the  shore  side ;  infinite  power  pulls  in  the  connecting  line,  and  thus 
draws  the  man  from  destruction.  Oh,  the  blessedness  of  faith,  because 
it  unites  us  to  God  ! 

Faith  is  chosen,  again,  because  it  touches  the  springs  of  action.  I  wonder 
whether  I  shall  be  wrong  if  I  say  that  we  never  do  anything  except 
through  faith  of  some  sort.  If  I  walk  across  this  platform  it  is  because  I 
believe  my  legs  will  carry  me.  A  man  eats  because  he  believes  in  the 
necessity  of  food.  Columbus  discovered  America  because  he  believed 
that  there  was  another  continent  beyond  the  ocean  :  many  another 
grand  deed  has  also  been  born  of  faith,  for  ftiith  works  wonders.  Com- 
moner things  are  done  on  the  same  principle  ;  faith  in  its  natural  form 
is  an  all-prevailing  force.     God  gives  salvation  to  our  faith,  because  he 


410  METROPOLrrAN  TABERNACLE  PULPIT. 

has  thus  touched  the  secret  spring  of  all  our  emotions  aud  actions.  Ho 
has,  so  to  speak,  taken  possession  of  the  battery,  aud  now  he  can  send  the 
sacred  current  to  every  part  of  our  nature.  When  we  believe  in  Christ, 
and  the  heart  has  come  into  the  possession  of  God,  then  are  we  saved 
from  sin,  and  are  moved  towards  repentance,  holiness,  zeal,  prayer,  con- 
secration, and  every  other  gracious  thing. 

Faith,  again,  has  the  poiver  ofivorking  by  love;  it  touches  the  secret 
spring  of  the  affections,  and  draws  the  heart  towards  God.  Faith  is  an 
act  of  the  understanding  ;  but  it  also  proceeds  from  the  heart.  "  With 
the  heart  man  believeth  unto  righteousness;"  and  hence  God  gives 
salvation  to  faith  because  it  resides  next  door  to  the  affections,  and  is 
near  akin  to  love,  and  love,  you  know,  is  that  -which  purifies  the  soul. 
Love  to  God  is  obedience,  love  is  holiness  ;  to  love  God  and  to  love 
man  is  to  be  conformed  to  the  image  of  Christ,  and  this  is  salvation. 

Moreover, /a///i  creates  peace  and  Joy;  he  that  hath  it  rests,  and  is 
tranquil,  is  glad,  and  joyous  ;  and  this  is  a  preparation  for  heaven.  God 
gives  all  the  heavenly  gifts  to  faith,  because  faith  worketh  in  us  the  very 
life  and  spirit  which  are  to  be  eternally  manifested  in  the  upper  and  better 
world.  I  have  hastened  over  these  points  that  I  might  not  weary  you 
on  a  day  when,  however  willing  the  spirit  may  be,  the  flesh  is  weak. 

III.  We  close  with  the  third  point :  How  can  we  obtain  and  in- 
crease OUR  FAITH  ?  A  very  earnest  question  this  to  many.  They  say 
they  want  to  believe  but  cannot.  A  great  deal  of  nonsense  is  talked 
upon  this  subject.  Let  us  be  practical  in  our  dealing  with  it.  "  What 
am  I  to  do  in  order  to  believe  ?"  The  shortest  way  is  to  believe,  and 
if  the  Holy  Spirit  has  made  you  honest  and  candid,  you  will  believe  as 
soon  as  the  truth  is  set  before  you.  Anyhow,  the  gospel  command  is 
clear :  "Believe  in  the  Lord  .Jesus  Christ,  and  thou  shalt  be  saved." 

But  still,  if  you  have  a  difficulty,  take  it  before  God  in  prayer.  Tell 
the  great  Father  exactly  what  it  is  that  puzzles  you,  and  beg  him  by  his 
Holy  Spirit  to  solve  the  question.  H'  I  cannot  believe  a  statement  in  a 
book  I  am  glad  to  enquire  of  the  author  what  he  meant,  and  if  he  is  a 
true  man  his  explanation  will  satisfy  me :  much  more  will  the  divine 
explanation  satisfy  the  heart  of  the  true  seeker.  The  Lord  is  willing  to 
m;ike  himself  known ;  go  to  him,  and  see  if  it  be  not  so. 

Furthermore,  if  faith  seem  dilHcult,  it  is  possible  that  God  the  Holy 
Spirit  will  enable  you  to  believe  if  you  hear  very  frequently  and  earnestly 
that  which  you  are  commanded  to  believe.  We  believe  many  things  be- 
cause we  have  heard  them  so  often.  Do  you  not  find  it  so  in  common 
life,  that  if  you  hear  a  thing  fifty  times  a  day,  at  last  you  come  to  be- 
lieve it?  Some  men  have  come  to  believe  that  which  is  false  by  this 
process :  I  should  not  wonder  but  what  God  often  blesses  this  method 
in  working  faith  concerning  that  which  is  true,  for  it  is  written,  "  Faith 
coraeth  by  hearing."  H"  I  earnestly  and  attentively  hear  the  gospel,  it 
may  be  that  one  of  these  days  I  shall  find  myself  believing  that  which  I 
hear,  through  the  blessed  operation  of  the  Spirit  upon  my  mind. 

K  that,  however,  should  seem  poor  advice,  I  would  add  next,  consider 
the  testimony  of  ot/iers.  The  Samaritans  believed  because  of  what  tha 
woman  told  them  concerning  Jesus.  Many  of  our  beliefs  arise  out  of  the 
testimony  of  others.  I  believe  that  there  is  such  a  country  as  Jap.in :  I 
never  saw  it,  and  yet  I  believe  that  there  is  such  a  place  because  others 


FAITH:   WHAT   IS   tT  ?   HoW   CAN   IT   BE  OUTAINED?  411 

have  been  there.  I  belicTe  I  shall  die :  I  have  never  died,  but  a  s^rvat 
many  have  done  so  whom  I  once  knew,  and  I  have  a  conviction  that  1 
shall  die  also ;  the  testimony  of  many  convinces  me  of  this  fact.  Listen, 
then,  to  those  who  tell  you  how  they  were  saved,  how  they  were  pardoned, 
how  they  have  been  changed  in  character :  if  you  will  but  listen  you 
will  find  that  somebody  just  like  yourself  has  been  saved.  If  you  hava 
been  a  thief,  you  will  find  that  a  thief  rejoiced  to  wash  away  his  sin  in 
the  fountain  of  Christ's  blood.  You  that  have  been  unchaste  in  life, 
you  will  find  that  men  who  have  fallen  that  way  have  been  cleansed  and 
changed.  If  you  are  in  despair,  you  have  only  to  get  among  God's 
people,  and  enquire  a  little,  and  some  who  have  been  equally  in  despair 
with  yourself  will  tell  you  how  he  saved  them.  As  you  listen  to  one 
after  another  of  those  who  have  tried  the  word  of  God,  and  proved  it, 
the  divine  Spirit  will  lead  you  to  believe.  Have  you  not  heard  of  the 
African  who  was  told  by  the  missionary  that  water  sometimes  became  so 
hard  that  a  man  could  walk  on  it  ?  He  declared  that  he  believed  a 
great  many  things  the  missionary  had  told  him ;  but  he  never  would 
believe  that.  When  he  came  to  England  it  came  to  pass  that  one  frosty 
day  he  saw  the  river  frozen,  but  he  would  not  venture  on  it.  He  knew 
that  it  was  a  river,  and  he  was  certain  that  he  would  be  drowned  if  he 
ventured  upon  it.  He  could  not  be  induced  to  walk  the  ice  till  his 
friend  went  upon  it ;  then  he  was  persuaded,  and  trusted  himself  where 
others  had  ventured.  So,  mayhap,  while  you  see  others  believe,  and 
notice  their  joy  and  peace,  you  will  yourself  be  gently  led  to  believe.  It 
is  one  of  God's  ways  of  helping  us  to  faith. 

A  better  plan  still  is  this, — 7iofe  the  aufhority  upon  which  you  are 
commanded  to  believe,  and  this  will  greatly  help  you.  The  authority  is 
not  mine,  or  you  might  well  reject  it.  It  is  not  even  the  pope's,  or  you 
might  even  reject  that.  But  you  are  commanded  to  believe  upon  the 
authority  of  God  himself.  He  bids  you  believe  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  you 
must  not  refuse  to  obey  your  Maker.  The  foreman  of  a  certain  works  i^ 
the  north  had  often  heard  the  gospel,  but  he  was  troubled  with  the  fear 
that  he  might  not  come  to  Christ.  His  good  master  one  day  sent  a  card 
round  to  the  works — "  Come  to  my  house  immediately  after  work."  The 
foreman  appeared  at  his  master's  door,  and  the  master  came  out,  and  said 
somewhat  roughly, "  What  do  you  want,  John,  troubling  me  at  this 
time  ?  AVork  is  done,  what  right  have  you  here  ?  "  "  Sir,"  said  he,  *'  I. 
had  a  card  from  you  saying  that  I  was  to  come  after  work."  "  Do  you 
mean  to  say  that  merely  because  you  had  a  card  from  me  you  are  to  come 
up  to  my  house  and  call  me  out  after  business  hours  ?  "  "  Well,  sir," 
replied  the  foeeman,  "  I  do  not  understand  you,  but  it  seems  to  me  that, 
as  you  sent  for  me,  I  had  a  right  to  come."  "Come  in,  John,"  said  his 
master,  "  I  have  another  message  that  I  want  to  read  to  you,"  and  he 
Bat  down  and  read  these  words — "  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labour 
and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest."  "  Do  you  think  after 
such  a  message  from  Christ  that  you  can  be  wrong  in  going  to  him  ?  " 
The  poor  man  saw  it  all  at  once,  and  believed,  because  he  saw  that  he 
had  good  warrant  and  authority  for  believing.  So  have  you,  poor  soul ; 
you  have  good  authority  for  coming  to  Christ,  for  the  Lord  himself  bida 
you  trust  him.  ^-^„_ 

If  that  does  not  settle  you,  thinlc  over  what  it  is  tJiat  you  have  to 


^12  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE  PULPIT. 

believe, — that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  suffered  in  the  room  and  place  and 
stead  of  men,  and  is  able  to  save  all  who  trust  him.  Why,  this  is  the 
most  blessed  fact  that  ever  men  were  told  to  believe :  the  most  suitable, 
the  most  comforting,  the  most  divine  truth  that  ever  was  set  before  men. 
I  advise  you  to  think  much  upon  it,  and  search  out  the  grace  and  love 
which  it  contains.  Study  the  four  Evangelists,  study  Paul's  epistles,  and 
then  see  if  the  message  is  not  such  a  credible  one  that  you  are  forced  to 
believe  it. 

If  that  does  not  do,  then  fhinlc  upon  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ — think 
of  who  he  is  and  what  he  did,  and  where  he  is  now,  and  what  he  is  now  ; 
Ihink  often  and  deeply.  When  he,  even  such  an  one  as  he,  bids  you 
trust  him,  surely  then  your  heart  will  be  persuaded.  For  how  can  you 
doubt  hm  ? 

If  none  of  these  things  avail,  then  there  is  something  wrong  about  you 
altogether,  and  my  last  word  is,  submit  yourself  to  God!  May  the  Spirit 
of  God  take  away  your  enmity  and  make  you  yield.  You  are  a  rebel,  a 
proud  rebel,  and  that  is  why  you  do  not  believe  your  God.  Give  up  your 
rebellion  ;  throw  down  your  weapons  ;  yield  at  discretion  ;  surrender  to 
your  King.  I  believe  that  never  did  a  soul  throw  up  its  hands  in  self- 
despair,  and  cry,  "Lord,  I  yield,"  but  what  faith  became  easy  to  it  before 
long.  It  is  because  you  still  have  a  quarrel  with  God,  and  intend  to  have 
your  own  will  and  your  own  way,  that  therefore  you  cannot  believe. 
"  How  can  ye  believe,"  said  Christ,  "  that  have  honour  one  of  another  ?" 
Proud  self  creates  unbelief.  Submit,  0  man.  Yield  to  your  God,  and 
then  shall  you  sweetly  believe  in  your  Saviour.  God  bless  you,  for 
Ciu'ist's  sake,  and  bring  you  at  this  very  moment  to  believe  in  the  Lord 
Jesus.    Amen. 


Portion  op  Scripture  read  before  Sermon — Ephcsians  ii. 


Hymns  from  "Our  Own  Hymn  Book" — 911,  554. 


Note. — While  revising  this  sermon  I  felt  moved  to  ask  my  readers  to  dr- 
rulato  it.  I  tried  to  be  very  simple,  and  I  think  I  succeeded.  If  you,  dear 
reader,  think  the  sermon  likely  to  show  the  way  of  salvation  to  those  around 
you,  will  you  not  get  extra  copies  and  give  them  away?  The  preacher  of  the 
Bcrraon  and  the  giver  of  it  will  rejoice  together  if,  by  their  united  cObrt,  men  aro 
led  to  laith  iu  Jcsna. 


pleti[opHtmt  ©itenatk  |ttlDit 


^' 


THE   LITTLE  DOGS. 


Delivered  on  Lord's-Day  Morning,  August  6th,  1876,  by 

C.   H.   SPURGEON, 

AT    THE    METROPOLITAN    TABERNACLE,    NEWINGTON. 


"But  he  answered  and  said,  It  is  not  meet  to  take  the  children's  bread,  and  to 
cast  it  to  dogs.  And  she  said,  Truth,  Lord :  yet  the  dogs  eat  of  the  crumbs  which 
fall  from  their  masters'  table." — Matthew  xv.  26,  27. 

"  But  Jesus  said  unto  her.  Let  the  children  first  be  filled  :  for  it  is  not  meet  to 
take  the  children's  bread,  and  to  cast  it  unto  the  dogs.  And  she  answered  and  said 
unto  him,  Yes,  Lord :  yet  the  dogs  under  the  table  eat  of  the  children's  crumbs." — 
Mark  vii.  27,  28. 

I  TAKE  the  two  records  of  Matthew  and  lilark  that  wc  may  hare  the 
whole  matter  before  us.  ]\Liy  the  Holy  Spirit  bless  om-  meditations 
thereon. 

The  brightest  jewels  are  often  fonnd  in  the  darkest  places.  Christ 
had  not  fonnd  such  faith,  no,  not  in  Israel,  as  he  discovered  in  this 
poor  Canaanitish  woman.  The  borders  and  fringes  of  the  land  were 
more  fruitful  than  the  centre,  where  the  Ifusbandry  had  been  more 
abundant.  In  the  headlands  of  the  field,  where  the  farmer  does  not 
expect  to  grow  much  beyond  weeds,  the  Lord  Jesus  found  the  richest 
ear  of  corn  that  as  yet  had  filled  his  sheaf.  Let  those  of  us  who  reap 
after  him  be  encouraged  to  expect  the  same  experience.  Never  let  us 
speak  of  any  district  as  too  depraved  to  yield  us  converts,  nor  of  any 
class  of  persons  as  too  fallen  to  become  believers.  Let  us  go  even  to 
the  borders  of  Tyre  and  Sidon,  though  the  land  be  under  a  curse,  for 
even  there  we  shall  discover  some  elect  one,  ordained  to  be  a  jewel  for 
the  Redeemer's  crown.     Our  heavenly  Father  has  children  everywhere. 

In  spiritual  things  it  is  found  that  the  best  plants  often  grow  in 
the  most  barren  soil.  Solomon  spake  of  trees,  and  discoursed  con- 
cerning the  hyssop  on  the  wall  and  the  cedar  in  Lebanon.  So  is  it 
in  the  natural  world,  the  great  trees  are  found  on  great  mountains  and 
the  minor  plants  in  places  adapted  for  their  tiny  roots  ;  but  it  is  not 
so  among  the  plants  of  the  Lord's  right  hand  jDlanting,  for  there  Ave 
have  seen  the  cedar  grow  upon  the  wall — great  sainbs  in  places  Avhere  it 
was  apparently  impossible  for  them  to  exist ;  and  we  have  seen  hyssops 
No3.  1,3U9-1U. 


458  METROrOT.ITAM  TABERNACLE  PULPIT. 

E^rowing  upon  Lebanon — a  questionable,  insignificant  piety,  where  there 
have  been  innumerable  advantages.  The  Lord  is  able  to  make  strong 
faith  exist  with  little  knowledge,  little  present  enjoyment  and  little  en- 
couragement ;  and  strong  foith  in  such  conditions  triumphs  and  con- 
quers, and  doubly  glorifies  the  grace  of  God.  Such  was  this  Canaanitish 
woman,  a  cedar  growing  where  soil  was  scant  enough.  She  was  a 
woman  of  amazing  faith,  though  she  could  hare  heard  but  little  of  him 
in  whom  she  believed,  and  perhaps  had  never  seen  his  person  at  all  until 
the  day  when  she  fell  at  his  feet  and  said,  "  Lord,  help  me  !  " 

Our  Lord  had  a  very  quick  eye  for  spying  faith.  If  the  jewel  was 
lying  in  the  mire  his  eye  caught  its  glitter,  if  there  was  a  choice  ear  of 
wheat  among  the  thorns  he  failed  not  to  perceive  it.  Faith  has  a  strong 
attraction  for  the  Lord  Jesus  ;  at  the  sight  of  it  "  the  king  is  held  in 
the  galleries"  and  cries  "thou  hast  ravished  my  heart  with  one  of  thine 
eyes,  with  one  chain  of  thy  neck."  The  Lord  Jesus  was  charmed  with 
the  fair  jewel  of  this  woman's  faith,  and  watching  it  and  delighting  in 
it  he  resolved  to  turn  it  round  and  set  it  in  other  lights,  that  the  various 
facets  of  this  priceless  diamond  might  each  one  flash  its  brilliance  and 
delight  his  soul.  Therefore  he  tried  her  faith  by  his  silence,  and  by 
his  discouraging  replies,  that  he  might  see  its  strength  ;  but  he  was  all 
the  while  delighting  in  it,  and  secretly  sustaining  it,  and  Avhen  he  had 
sufficiently  tried  it,  he  brought  it  forth  as  gold,  and  set  his  own  royal 
mark  upon  it  in  these  memorable  words,  "  0  woman,  great  is  thy  fiiith ; 
be  it  unto  thee  even  as  thou  wilt." 

I  am  hopeful  this  morning  that  perhaps  some  poor  soul  in  this  place 
ttudcr  very  discouraging  circumstances  may  nevertheless  be  led  to 
believe  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  with  a  strong  and  persevering  faith, 
and  though  as  yet  it  enjoys  no  peace,  and  has  seen  no  gracious  answer 
to  prayer,  I  trust  that  its  struggling  faith  may  be  strengthened  this 
morning  by  the  example  of  the  Canaanitish  woman. 

I  gather  from  the  story  of  her  appeal  to  the  Lord  Jesus  and  her 
success  therein,  four  facts.  The  first  is,  fai/Its  mouth  cannot  be  closed ; 
the  second  is,  faith  never  disputes  tvith  God;  thirdly,  I  perceive  that 
faith  argues  miijhlUij ;  and  fourthly,  thai  faith  ivins  her  suit. 

I.  The  moutji  of  faith  can  never  be  closed  ;  for  if  ever  the 
faith  of  a  woman  was  ti'ied  so  as  to  make  her  cease  from  prayer,  it  was 
that  of  this  daughter  of  Tyre.  She  had  difiiculty  after  difiiculty  to 
encounter,  and  yet  she  could  not  be  put  oif  from  pleading  for  her  littlo 
daughter,  because  she  "hclieved  in  Jesus  as  the  great  Messiah,  able  to 
hcai  all  manner  of  diseases,  and  she  meant  to  pray  to  him  until  he 
yielded  to  her  importunity,  for  she  was  confident  that  he  could  chase 
the  tlemon  from  her  child. 

Observe  that  the  mouth  of  faith  cannot  he  closed  even  on  account  of  the 
closed  ear  and  the  dosed  mouth  of  Christ,  lie  answered  her  never  a 
Avord.  She  spoke  very  piteously,  she  came  and  threw  herself  at  his  feet, 
her  child's  case  was  very  urgent,  her  motherly  heart  was  very  tender,  and 
her  cries  were  very  i)iercing,  and  yet  he  answered  her  never  a  word  :  as 
if  he  were  deaf  and  dumb,  he  passed  her  by  ;  yet  was  she  not  staggered ; 
she  beheved  in  him,  and  even  he  himself  could  not  make  her  doubt  hire, 
let  him  try  silence  even  if  he  would.  It  is  hard  to  believe  when  prayer 
Bccins  to  be  a  failure.    I  would  to  God  that  some  poor  seeker  here  might 


THE   LITTLE   DOGS.  459 

believe  that  Jesus  Clirist  is  able  and  willing  to  save,  and  so  fully  believe 
it  that  his  unanswered  prayers  shall  not  be  able  to  make  him  doubt. 
Even  if  you  should  pray  in  vain  by  the  month  together,  do  not  allow  a 
doubt  about  the  Lord  Jesus  and  his  power  to  save  to  cross  your  mind. 
What  if  you  cannot  yet  grasp  the  peace  Avhich  faith  must  ultimately 
bring  you,  what  if  you  have  no  certainty  of  forgiveness  of  your  sin,  what 
if  no  gleams  of  joy  should  visit  your  spirit,  yet  believe  you  him,  who 
cannot  lie.  "  Though  he  slay  me,"  said  Job,  "  yet  will  I  trust  in  him." 
That  was  splendid  faith.  It  Avould  be  a  great  deal  for  some  if  they  could 
say,  "  Though  he  smite  me,  yet  will  I  trust  him,"  but  Job  said,  "  Though 
he  slay  me."  If  he  put  on  the  garb  of  an  executioner,  and  come  out 
against  me  as  though  he  would  destroy  me,  yet  will  I  beheve  him  to  be 
full  of  love  :  he  is  good  and  gracious  still,  I  cannot  doubt  it,  and  there- 
fore at  his  feet  I  will  lie  down  and  look  up,  expecting  grace  at  his  hands. 
Oh  for  such  faith  as  this !  0  soul,  if  you  have  it,  you  are  a  saved  man, 
as  sure  as  you  are  alive.  If  even  the  Lord's  apparent  refusal  to  bless 
you  cannot  close  your  mouth,  your  faith  is  of  a  noble  sort,  and  salvation 
is  yours. 

In  the  next  place,  her  faith  could  not  he  silenced  by  the  conduct  of  the 
disciples.  They  did  not  treat  her  well,  but  yet  perhaps  not  altogether 
ill.  They  were  not  like  their  Master,  but  fi'equently  repulsed  those  who 
would  come  to  him.  Her  noise  annoyed  them,  she  kept  to  them  with 
boundless  perseverance,  and  therefore  they  said, "  Send  her  away,  for  she 
crieth  after  us."  Poor  soul,  she  never  cried  after  Ihem,  it  was  after  their 
Master.  Sometimes  disciples  become  very  important  in  their  own  eyes, 
and  think  that  the  pushing  and  crowding  to  hear  the  gospel  is  caused  by 
the  people's  eagerness  to  hear  them,  whereas  nobody  would  care  for  their 
poor  talk  if  it  were  not  for  the  gospel  message  which  they  are  charged 
to  deliver.  Give  us  any  other  theme,  and  the  multitude  Avould  soon 
melt  away.  Though  weary  of  the  woman's  importunate  cries,  they  acted 
somewhat  kindly  towards  her,  for  they  were  evidently  desirous  that  she 
should  obtain  the  boon  she  sought,  or  else  our  Lord's  reply  Avould  not 
have  been  appropriate,  "  I  am  not  sent,  save  to  the  lost  sheep  of  the 
house  of  Israel."  It  Avas  not  her  daughter's  healing  that  they  cared  for, 
but  they  consulted  their  own  comfort,  for  they  were  anxious  to  be  rid  of 
her.  "  Send  her  away,"  said  they,  "  for  she  crieth  after  us."  Still, 
though  they  did  not  treat  her  as  men  should  treat  a  woman,  as  disciples 
should  treat  a  seeker,  as  Christians  should  treat  everybody,  yet  for  all 
that,  her  mouth  was  not  stopped.  Peter,  I  have  no  doubt,  looked  in  a 
very  scowling  manner,  and  perhaps  even  John  became  a  little  impatient, 
for  he  had  a  Ijuick  temper  by  nature  ;  Andrew  and  Philip  and  the  rest 
of  them  considered  her  very  impertinent  and  presumptuous ;  but  she 
thought  of  her  Httle  daughter  at  home,  and  of  the  horrible  miseries  to 
which  the  demon  subjected  her,  and  so  she  pressed  up  to  the  Saviour's 
feet  and  said,  "  Lord,  help  me."  Cold,  hard  words  and  unkind,  un- 
sympathetic behaviour  could  not  prevent  her  pleading  with  him  in  whom 
she  believed.  Ah,  poor  sinner,  perhaps  you  are  saying,  "  I  am  longing 
to  be  saved,  but  such  and  such  a  good  Christian  man  has  dealt  very 
bitterly  with  me,  he  has  doubted  my  sincerity  and  questioned  the 
reality  of  my  repentance,  and  caused  me  the  deepest  sorrow  ;  it  seoma 
ais  il"  he  did  not  wish  me  to  be  saved."     Ah,  dear  friend,  this  is  very 


4  CO  MKTROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE  PULPIT. 

trying:,  but  if  you  have  true  faith  in  the  IMaster  you  will  not  mind  us 
disciples,  neither  the  gentlest  of  us,  nor  the  most  crooked  of  us,  but 
just  urge  on  your  suit  with  your  Lord  till  he  deigns  to  give  you  an 
answer  of  peace. 

Her  movth,  again,  was  not  closed  hy  exclusive  doctrine,  which  appeared 
to  confine  the  blessing  to  a  favoured  few :  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  said, 
"•  I  am  not  sent  save  to  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel,"  and 
'Aough  properly  understood  there  is  nothing  very  severe  in  it,  yet  the 
S'^ntence  must  have  fallen  on  the  woman's  heart  like  a  talent  of  lead. 
"Alas,"  she  might  have  thought,  "  then  he  is  not  sent  to  me ;  vainly  do 
I  seek  for  that  which  he  rcscr\cs  for  the  Jews."  Now,  the  doctrine  of 
election,  Avhich  is  assuredly  taught  in  Scripture,  ought  not  to  hinder  any 
soul  from  coming  to  Christ,  for,  if  properly  understood,  it  Avould  rather 
encourage  than  discourage ;  and  yet  often  to  the  uninstrncted  ear  the 
doctrine  of  the  divine  choice  of  a  people  from  before  the  foundation  of 
world  acts  with  very  depressing  efi'ect.  AVe  have  known  poor  seekers 
mouiTifully  say,  "  Perhaps  there  is  no  mercy  for  me ;  I  may  be  among 
those  for  whom  no  purpose  of  mercy  has  been  formed."  They  have 
been  tempted  to  cease  from  prayer  for  fear  they  should  not  have  been 
predestinated  unto  eternal  life.  Ah,  dear  soul,  if  you  have  the  faith  of 
God's  elect  in  you,  you  will  not  be  kept  back  by  any  self-condemning 
inferences  drawn  from  the  secret  things  of  God,  but  you  will  believe  in 
that  which  has  been  clearly  revealed,  and  you  will  be  assured  that  this 
cannot  contradict  the  secret  decrees  of  heaven.  "What  though  our  Lord 
was  only  sent  to  the  house  of  Israel,  yet  there  is  a  house  of  Israel  not  after 
the  flesii  but  after  the  spirit,  and  therefore  the  Syi'ophoenecian  woman 
was  included  even  Avhere  she  thought  she  was  shut  out,  and  you  may 
also  be  comprehended  within  those  lines  of  gracious  destiny  which  now 
distress  you.  At  any  rate,  say  to  your,self,  "  In  the  election  of  grace 
others  are  included  who  were  as  sinful  as  I  have  been,  why  should  not 
I  ?  Others  have  been  included  who  were  as  full  of  distress  as  I  have 
been  on  account  of  sin,  and  why  should  not  I  be  also  ?"  Reasoning 
thus  you  will  press  forward ;  in  hope  belie^i-ing  against  hope,  suffering 
no  plausible  deduction  from  the  doctrine  of  Scripture  to  prevent  your 
believing  in  the  appointed  Redeemer. 

The  mouth  of  faith  in  this  case  was  not  even  closed  Ig  a  sense  of  ad- 
mitted umvorthiness.  Christ  spoke  of  dogs  :  he  meant  that  the  Gentiles 
were  to  Israel  as  the  dogs  :  she  did  not  at  all  dispute  it,  but  yielded  the 
point  by  saying,  "  Truth,  Lord."  She  felt  she  was  only  Avorthy  to  be 
compared  to  a  dog.  I  have  no  doubt  her  sense  of  unworthiness  was 
very  deep.  She  did  not  expect  to  win  the  boon  she  sought  for  on  ac- 
count of  any  merit  of  her  own  ;  she  de]iended  upon  the  goodness  of 
Christ's  heart,  not  on  the  goodness  of  her  cause,  and  upon  the  excel- 
lence of  his  power  rather  than  ui)on  the  prevalence  of  her  plea ;  yet 
conscious  as  she  was  that  she  was  only  a  ]ioot  Gentile  dog,  her  prayers 
were  not  hindered  ;  she  cried,  notwithstanding  all,  "  Lord,  help  me."  0 
sinner,  if  thou  foelest  thyself  to  be  the  worst  sinner  out  of  hell,  still  pray, 
believingly  pray  for  merely.  If  thy  sense  of  unworthiness  be  enough  to 
drive  thee  to  self-destruction,  yet  I  beseech  thee,  out  of  the  depths,  oul 
of  the  dungeon  of  self-loathing,  still  cry  unto  God;  for  thy  salvation 
rests  in  no  measure  or  degree  upon  thyself,  or  upon  anything  that  thou 


THE    LITTLE   DOu,'?.  4(51 

Ri't  or  liasfc  been  or  canst  be.  Thou  needest  to  be  saved  from  thyself, 
not  hj  thyself.  It  is  thine  to  be  empty  that  Jesus  may  fill  thee  ;  thine 
to  confess  thy  filthincss  that  he  may  wash  thee  ;  thine  to  be  less  than 
nothing  that  Jesus  may  be  everything  to  thee.  Suffer  not  the  number, 
blackness,  frequency,  or  heinousness  of  thy  transgressions  to  silence  thy 
prayers,  but  though  thou  be  a  dog,  yea  not  worthy  to  be  set  with  the 
dogs  of  the  Lord's  flock,  yet  open  thy  mouth  in  believing  j^rayer. 

There  was  beside  this  a  general  tone  and  sj^irit  in  what  the  Lord 
Jesus  said  which  tended  to  depress  the  Avoman's  hope  and  restrain  her 
prayer,  yet  ^lia  luas  not  kept  bacJc  by  the  darkest  and  most  depressing 
influences.  ''  It  is  not  meet,"  said  the  Lord  Jesus,  "  it  is  not  becoming, 
it  is  not  proper,  it  is  hardly  lawful,  to  take  children's  bread  and  throw 
it  to  dogs."  Perhaps  she  did  not  quite  see  all  that  he  might  have  meant, 
but  what  she  did  sec  was  enough  to  pour  cold  water  upon  the  flame 
of  her  hope,  yet  her  faith  was  not  quenched.  It  was  a  faith  of  that 
immortal  kind  which  nothing  can  kill ;  for  her  mind  was  made  up 
that  whatever  Jesus  meant,  or  did  not  mean,  she  would  not  cease  to 
trust  him,  and  urge  her  suit  with  him.  There  are  a  great  many  things 
lU  and  around  the  gospel  which  men  see  as  in  a  haze,  and  being 
misunderstood  they  rather  repel  than  attract  seeking  souls  ;  but  be 
they  what  they  may  we  must  resolve  to  come  to  Jesus  at  all  risks.  "  If 
I  perish,  I  perish."  Beside  the  great  stumbling-stone  of  election 
there  are  truths  and  fleets  which  seekers  magnify  and  misconstrue  till 
they  see  a  thousand  difficulties.  They  are  troubled  about  Christian 
experience,  about  being  born  again,  aljout  inbred  sin,  and  all  sorts  of 
things  ;  in  fact,  a  thousand  lions  are  in  the  way  when  the  soul  attempts 
to  come  to  Jesus,  but  he  who  gives  Christ  the  faith  which  he  deserves 
says,  "  I  fear  none  of  these  things.  Lord,  help  me,  and  I  will  still  con- 
fide in  thee.  I  will  approach  thee,  I  will  press  through  obstacles  to 
thee,  and  throw  myself  at  thy  dear  feet,  knowing  that  him  that  cometh 
to  thee  thou  wilt  in  no  wise  cast  out." 

II.  Faith  never  disputes  with  the  Lord.  Faith  worships. 
You  notice  how  ]\ratthew  says,  "  Then  came  she  and  worshipped  him.*' 
Faith  also  begs  and  prays.  You  observe  how  Mark  says,  "  She  besought 
him."  She  cried,  "  Lord,  help  me,"  after  having  said,  "  Have  mercy  on 
me,  0  Lord,  thou  Son  of  David."  Faith  pleads,  but  never  disputes,  not 
even  against  the  hardest  thing  that  Jesus  says.  If  faith  disputed — I 
am  uttering  a  solecism — she  would  not  be  faith,  for  that  which  disputes 
is  unbelief.  Faith  in  God  implies  agreement  with  what  God  says,  and 
consequently  it  excludes  the  idea  of  doubt.  Genuine  faith  believes  any- 
thing and  everything  the  Lord  says  whether  discouraging  or  encourag- 
ing. She  never  has  a  "  but "  or  an  "  if,"  or  even  a  "  yet "  to  put  in,  but 
she  stands  to  it, "  Thou  hast  said  it.  Lord,  and  therefore  it  is  true  :  thou 
hast  ordained  it  Lord,  and  therefore  it  is  right."  She  never  goes 
beyond  that. 

Observe  in  our  text  that/rt/Z/i  assents  to  all  the  Lord  says.  She  said, 
"Truth,  Lord."  AVhat  had  he  said?  "You  are  comparable  to  a 
dog ! "  *'  Truth,  Lord  ;  truth.  Lord  ;  so  I  am."  "  It  would  not  be 
meet  that  the  children  should  be  robbed  of  bread  in  order  to  feed 
dogs."  "  Truth  Lord,  it  would  not  be  fitting,  and  I  would  not  have 
oiie  of  thy  childi-en  deprived  of  grace  for  me."    "  It  is  not  your  tinae 


«62  METROPOLITAN   TABEIJNACLE   rULPIT. 

yet,"  said  Jesus  ;  "  the  children  must  first  be  fed  ;  children  at  the  meal 
times  and  dogs  after  dinner  ;  this  is  Israel's  time,  and  the  Gentiles  may 
follow  after.  But  not  yet."  She  virtually  replies,  "  I  know  it.  Lord, 
and  agree  thereto." 

She  does  not  raise  a  question  or  dispute  the  justice  of  the  Lord's 
dispensing  his  own  grace  according  to  his  sovereign  good  pleasure.  She 
i'ails  not,  as  some  do  who  cavil  at  divine  sovereignty.  It  would  have 
proved  that  she  had  little  or  no  faith  if  she  had  done  that.  She  dis- 
putes not  as  to  the  Lord's  set  time  and  order.  Jesus  said,  "  Let  the 
children  first  be  filled,"  and  she  does  not  dispute  the  time,  as  many  do. 
who  will  not  have  it  that  now  is  the  accepted  time,  but  are  as  much  for 
postponing  as  this  woman  was  for  antedating  the  day  of  grace.  She 
entered  into  no  argument  against  its  being  improper  to  take  the  cove- 
nant bread  from  the  children  and  give  it  to  the  uncircumcised  heathen  : 
she  never  wished  Israel  to  be  robbed  for  her.  Dog  as  she  was  she 
would  not  have  any  purpose  of  God  nor  any  propriety  of  the  divine 
household  shifted  and  changed  for  her.  She  assented  to  all  the  Lord's 
appointments.  That  is  the  faith  w^hich  saves  the  soul,  which  agrees 
with  the  mind  of  God,  even  if  it  seem  adverse  to  herself,  which  believes 
the  revealed  declarations  of  God  whether  they  appear  to  be  pleasant 
or  terrible,  and  assents  to  God's  word  whether  it  be  like  a  balm  to  its 
wound  or  like  a  sword  to  cut  and  slay.  If  the  word  of  God  be  true,  0 
man,  do  not  fight  against  it,  but  bow  before  it.  It  is  not  the  way  to 
a  living  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  nor  to  obtain  peace  with  God,  to  take 
up  arms  against  anything  which  God  declares.  In  yielding  lies  safety. 
Say  "  Truth,  Lord,"  and  you  shall  find  salvation. 

Note,  that  she  not  only  assented  to  all  that  the  Lord  said,  but  she 
worshipped  him  in  it.  "  Truth,"  she  said,  "  but  yet  thou  art  my  Lord." 
"  Thou  callest  me  *  dog,'  but  thou  art  my  Lord  for  all  that :  thou  ac- 
countest  me  unworthy  to  receive  thy  bounties,  but  thou  art  my  Lord, 
and  I  still  own  thee  as  such."  She  is  of  the  mind  of  Job  :  '*  Shall  we 
receive  good  at  the  hand  of  the  Lord,  and  shall  we  not  receive  evil  ?" 
She  is  willing  to  take  the  evil  and  say,  "  Whether  the  Lord  gives,  or 
whether  he  refuses,  blessed  be  his  name  ;  he  is  my  Lord  still."  Oh, 
this  is  grand  faith,  which  has  thrown  aside  the  disputatious  spirit, 
and  not  only  assents  to  the  Lord's  will,  but  worships  him  in  it.  Let  it 
be  what  it  may,  0  Lord,  even  if  the  truth  condemns  me,  yet  still  thou 
art  Lord,  and  I  confess  thy  deity,  confess  thine  excellence,  own  thy 
crown  rights,  and  submit  myself  to  thee  :  do  with  me  what  thou  wilt." 

And,  you  observe,  when  she  said  "  Truth,  Lord,"  she  did  not  go  on  to 
suggest  that  ang  alteration  should  be  made  for  her.  "  Lord,"  she  said, 
"  thou  hast  classed  me  among  the  dogs  :"  she  does  not  say,  "  Put  me 
among  the  children,"  but  she  only  asks  to  be  treated  as  a  dog  is.  "  The 
dogs  eat  the  crumbs,"  says  she.  She  docs  not  want  a  purpose  altered 
nor  an  ordinance  changed,  nor  a  decree  removed  :  "  Let  it  be  as  it  is  : 
if  it  be  thy  will.  Lord,  it  is  my  will ";  only  she  spies  a  gleam  of  hope, 
where,  if  she  had  not  possessed  faith,  she  would  have  seen  only  the 
blackness  of  despair.  May  we  have  such  a  faith  as  hers,  and  never 
enter  into  controversy  with  God. 

III.  Now  I  come  to  an  interesting  part  of  our  subject,  namely,  that 
PAITii  ahques,  though  it  docs  not  dispute.     "Truth,  Lord,"  said  she, 


TIIK    LITTLE   DOfiR.  403 

"  yet  the  dogs  eat  the  crumbs."  This  woman's  argument  was  correct, 
and  strictly  logical  throughout.  It  was  an  argument  based  upon  tho 
Lord's  own  premises,  and  you  know  if  you  are  reasoning  with  a  man 
you  cannot  do  better  than  take  his  own  statements  and  argue  upon 
them.  She  does  not  proceed  to  lay  down  new  premises,  or  dispute  the 
old  ones  by  saying  "  I  am  no  dog  ;"  but  she  says,  "  Yes,  t  am  a  dog." 
She  accepts  that  statement  of  the  Lord,  and  uses  it  as  a  blessed 
argimwitum  ad  hominem,  such  as  was  never  excelled  in  this  world. 
She  took  the  words  out  of  his  own  mouth,  and  vanquished  him  with 
them,  even  as  Jacob  overcame  the  angel.  There  is  so  much  force  in  the 
woman's  argument,  that  I  quite  despair  this  morning  of  being  able  to 
set  it  all  forth  to  you.  I  would,  however,  remark  that  the  translators 
have  greatly  injured  the  text  by  putting  in  the  word  "  yet,"  for  there  is 
no  "  yet "  in  the  Greek  :  it  is  quite  another  word.  Jesus  said,  "  It  is 
not  meet  to  take  the  children's  bread  and  cast  it  to  the  dogs.  "No," 
said  she,  *'  it  would  not  be  meet  to  do  this,  because  the  dogs  are  pro- 
vided for,  for  the  dogs  eat  the  crumbs  that  fall  from  their  master's 
table.  It  would  be  very  improper  to  give  them  the  children's  bread, 
because  they  have  bread  of  their  own.  Truth,  Lord,  I  admit  it  would 
be  improper  to  give  the  dogs  the  children's  bread,  because  they  have 
already  their  share  when  they  eat  the  crumbs  which  fall  from  the 
children's  table.  That  is  all  they  want,  and  all  I  desire.  I  do  not  ask 
thee  to  give  me  the  children's  bread,  I  only  ask  for  the  dog's  crumbs." 

Let  us  see  the  force  of  her  reasoning,  which  will  appear  in  many 
ways.  The  first  is  this.  She  argued  ivith  Christ  from  her  hopeful 
position.  "I  am  a  dog,"  said  she,  " but,  Lord,  thou  hast  come  all  the 
way  to  Sidon  ;  here  thou  art  close  on  the  borders  of  my  country,  and 
therefore  I  am  not  like  a  dog  out  in  the  street ;  I  am  a  dog  under 
the  table."  Mark  tells  us  that  she  said,  "  The  dogs  under  the  table  eat 
of  the  children's  crumbs."  She  as  good  as  says,  "  Lord,  thou  seest  my 
position :  I  was  a  dog  in  the  street,  afar  off  from  thee,  but  now  thou  hast 
come  and  preached  in  our  borders,  and  I  have  been  privileged  to  listen 
to  thee.  Others  have  been  healed,  and  thou  art  in  this  very  house  doing 
deeds  of  grace  while  I  look  on,  and  therefore,  though  I  am  a  dog,  I  am 
a  dog  under  the  table  ;  therefore.  Lord,  let  me  have  the  crumbs."  Do 
you  see,  dear  hearer  ?  You  admit  that  you  are  a  sinner,  and  a  great 
sinner,  but  you  say,  "  Lord,  I  am  a  sinner  that  is  permitted  to  hear  the 
gospel,  therefore  bless  it  to  me.  I  am  a  dog,  but  I  am  under  the  table, 
deal  with  me  as  such.  When  there  is  a  sermon  preached  for  the  com- 
fort of  thy  people,  I  am  there  to  hear  it :  whenever  the  saints  gather 
together,  and  the  precious  promises  are  discussed,  and  they  rejoice 
therein,  I  am  there,  looking  up,  and  wishing  that  I  were  among  them, 
but  still  Lord,  since  thou  hast  had  the  grace  to  let  me  be  a  hearer  of  the 
gospel,  wilt  thou  reject  me  now  that  I  desire  to  be  a  receiver  of  it  ?  To 
what  end  and  purpose  hast  thou  brought  me  so  near,  or  rather  come  so 
near  to  me,  if  after  all  thou  wilt  reject  me  ?  Dog  I  am,  but  still  I  am 
a  dog  under  the  table.  It  is  a  favour  to  be  privileged  to  be  among  the 
children,  even  if  I  may  only  lie  at  their  feet.  I  pray  thee,  good  Lord, 
then,  since  now  I  am  permitted  to  look  up  to  thee  and  ask  this  blessing, 
do  not  reject  me."  To  me  it  seems  that  this  was  a  strong  point  with 
the  woman,  and  that  she  used  it  well. 


4Gt  MKTROPOT.ITAN   TABERNACLE   PULPIT. 

ller  next  pica  was  her  mcourajinfj  relationship.  "Triitli,  Lord,"  slie 
says,  "  I  am  a  do<r,  but  the  dogs  eat  the  crumbs  which  lall  from  their 
master's  table,"  See  the  stress  laid  there  by  Matthew  :  "  From  their 
master's  table."  "  I  cannot  say  that  thou  art  my  Father,  I  cannot  look 
up  and  claim  the  privilege  of  a  child,  but  thou  art  my  ]\Iaster,  and 
masters  feed  their  dogs  ;  they  give  at  least  the  crumbs  to  those  dogs 
which  own  them  as  their  lord."  The  plea  is  very  like  that  suggested  to 
the  mind  of  the  poor  returning  prodigal.  He  thought  to  say  to  his 
father,  "  Make  me  as  one  of  thy  hired  servants  "  :  only  liis  faith  was 
far  weaker  than  hers.  "  Lord,  if  I  do  not  stand  in  relation  to  thee  as 
a  child,  yet  I  am  thy  creature  ;  thou  hast  made  me,  and  I  look  up  to 
thee  and  beseech  thee  not  to  let  me  perish  :  if  I  have  no  other  hold 
upon  thee  I  have  at  least  this,  that  I  ought  to  have  served  thee,  and 
therefore  I  am  thy  servant  though  1  am  a  runaway.  I  do  belong  to 
thee  at  least  under  the  covenant  of  works  if  I  do  not  under  the  cove- 
nant of  grace,  and  oh,  since  I  am  thy  servant,  do  not  utterly  reject  me. 
Thou  hast  some  property  in  me  by  creation,  at  any  rate  ;  oh,  look  upon 
me,  and  bless  me.  The  dogs  cat  what  falls  from  their  master's  table, 
let  me  do  the  same."  She  spies  out  a  dog's  relation  to  its  master,  and 
makes  the  most  of  it  with  blessed  Ingenuity,  which  we  shall  do  well  to 
imitate. 

Notice  next,  she  pleads  her  association  with  the  children.  Here  I  must 
tell  you  that  it  is  a  pity  that  it  was  not,  I  suppose,  possible  for  our 
translators  to  bring  clearly  out  what  is  after  all  the  pith  of  the  passage. 
She  was  pleading  for  her  little  daughter  ;  and  our  Lord  said  to  her,  "It 
is  not  meet  to  take  the  children's  bread  and  cast  it  to  the  little  dogs." 
The  word  is  a  diminutive,  and  the  woman  pitched  upon  it.  The  word 
"dogs"  could  not  have  served  her  turn  one  half  as  well  aa  that  of 
"  little  dogs,"  but  she  said,  "  Truth,  Lord,  yet  the  little  dogs  eat  of  the 
crumbs."  In  the  East,  as  a  rule,  a  dog  is  not  allowed  indoors  ;  in  fact, 
dogs  arc  there  looked  upon  as  foul  creatures,  and  roam  a1)out  uncarcd 
for  and  half  wild.  Christianity  has  raised  the  dog,  and  made  him  man's 
companion,  as  it  will  raise  all  the  brute  creation,  till  the  outrages  of 
vivisection,  and  the  cruelties  of  the  vulgar,  will  be  things  unheard  of 
except  as  horrors  of  a  past  barbarous  age.  In  the  East  a  dog  is  for 
down  in  the  scale  of  life,  a  street  wanderer,  prowling  for  scanty  food, 
and  in  temper  little  better  than  a  reformed  wolf.  So  the  adult  Easterns 
do  not  associate  with  dogs,  having  a  prejudice  against  them,  but  chil- 
dren are  not  so  foolish,  and  consequently  the  eastern  children  associate 
with  the  little  dogs.  The  father  will  not  have  the  dog  near  hiui,  but 
his  child  knows  no  such  folly,  and  seeks  out  a  little  dog  to  join  him  in 
his  sports  ;  thus  the  little  dog  comes  to  be  under  the  table,  tolerated  in 
the  house  for  the  child's  sake.  The  woman  appears  to  me  to  argno 
thus — "  Thou  hast  called  me  and  my  daughter  whelps,  little  dogs,  but 
then  the  little  dogs  are  under  the  children's  talile ;  they  associate  with 
the  children,  even  as  I  have  been  with  thy  disciples  to-day.  If  I  am 
not  one  of  them,  I  have  been  associating  with  them,  and  would  l)e  glad 
to  be  among  them."  How  heartily  do  I  wish  that  some  poor  soul  would 
catch  at  this  and  say,  "  Lord,  I  cannot  claim  to  be  one  of  thy  children, 
but  I  love  to  sit  among  them,  for  I  am  never  happier  than  when  I  aui 
^ith  them.    Sometimes  thejr  trouble  ar4  distress  me,  as  little  childrcij 


THE  LITTLE  DOGS.  465 

pinch  and  hurt  their  little  dogs,  but  oftentimes  tliey  caress  mc,  and 
epeak  kindly  and  comfortably  to  me,  and  pray  for  me,  and  desire  my  sal- 
vation ;  so  Lord,  if  I  am  not  a  child,  yet  thou  callcst  me  a  little  dog ;  so 
I  am,  but  give  me  a  little  dog's  treatment,  give  me  the  crumb  of  mercy 
which  I  seek." 

His  argument  goes  further,  for  the  little  dog  eats  the  crumhs  of  the 
children's  bread  ivith  the  child' s  full  consent.  When  a  child  has  its  little 
dog  to  play  with  while  he  is  eating,  what  does  the  child  do  ?  Why,  of 
course,  it  gives  a  little  bit  to  the  dog  every  now  and  again,  and  the 
doggie  himself  takes  great  liberties  and  helps  himself  as  much  as  he 
dares.  When  a  little  dog  is  with  the  children  at  meal  time  it  is  sure 
to  get  a  crumb  from  one  or  other  of  its  playmates  ;  and  none  will  object 
to  its  eating  what  it  can  get.  So  the  woman  seems  to  say,  "  Lord,  there 
are  the  children,  thy  disciples  ;  they  do  not  treat  me  very  well ;  little 
children  do  not  treat  little  dogs  always  so  kindly  as  they  might ;  but 
still,  Lord,  they  are  quite  willing  that  I  should  have  the  blessing  I  am 
seeking.  They  have  a  full  portion  in  thee  ;  they  have  thy  presence  : 
they  have  thy  word  :  they  sit  at  thy  feet ;  they  have  obtained  all  sorts 
of  spiritual  blessings  :  I  am  sure  they  cannot  grudge  me  so  much  less  a 
boon ;  they  are  willing  that  I  should  have  the  devil  cast  out  of  my 
daughter,  for  that  blessing  compared  with  what  they  have  is  but  a 
crumb,  and  they  are  content  that  I  should  have  it.  So  Lord,  I  answer 
thine  argument.  Thou  saycst  it  is  not  meet  until  the  children  are  filled 
to  give  bread  to  dogs,  but,  Lord,  the  children  are  filled  and  are  quite 
willing  to  let  me  have  my  portion,  they  consent  to  allow  me  the  crumbs  ; 
wilt  thou  not  give  them  to  mo  ? 

I  think  there  was  another  point  of  force  in  her  plea  :  it  was  this,  the 
almndanco  of  the  provision.  She  had  a  great  faith  in  Christ,  and  be- 
lieved big  things  of  him,  and  therefore  she  said,  "  Lord,  there  is  no 
great  strength  in  thine  argument  if  thou  dost  intend  to  prove  that  I 
ought  not  to  have  the  bread  for  fear  there  should  not  be  enough  for  the 
children,  for  thou  hast  so  much  that  even  while  the  children  are  being 
fed  the  dogs  may  get  the  crumbs,  and  there  will  be  enough  for  the 
children  still."  Where  it  is  a  poor  man's  table,  and  he  cannot  afford  to 
lose  a  crumb,  dogs  should  not  be  allowed ;  but  when  it  is  a  king's  table 
where  bread  is  of  small  account,  and  the  children  are  sitting  and  feeding 
to  the  full,  the  little  dogs  may  be  permitted  to  feed  under  the  table 
for  the  mere  droppings, — not  the  bread  the  master  casts  down,  but  the 
crumbs  which /a//  by  accident  are  so  many  that  there  is  enough  for  the 
dogs  without  the  children  being  deprived  of  a  mouthful.  "  No,  Lord," 
said  she,  "  I  would  not  have  thee  take  away  the  bread  from  thine  own 
children,  God  forbid  that  such  a  deed  should  be  done  for  me  ;  but  there 
is  enough  for  thy  children  in  thine  overflowing  love  and  mercy,  and 
still  enough  for  me,  for  all  I  ask  is  but  a  crumb  compared  with  what 
thou  art  daily  bestowing  upon  others." 

Now,  here  is  the  last  point  in  which  her  argument  had  force.  She 
looked  at  things  from  Christ's  jjoint  of  vieiv.  "  If,  great  Lord,"  said 
she,  "  thou  lookcst  at  me  as  a  dog,  then  behold  I  humbly  take  thee  at 
thy  word,  and  plead  that  if  I  be  a  dog  to  thee  then  the  cure  I  ask  for 
my  daughter  is  but  a  crumb  for  thy  great  power  and  goodness  to  bestow 
on  me."    She  used  a  diminutive  word  too,  and  said,  "  A  little  cramb." 


46G  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE  PULPIT. 

The  little  dogs  eat  of  the  little  crumbs  which  fall  from  the  childrcn'g 
table.  What  bold  faith  this  was  !  She  valued  the  mercy  she  sonj^'hfc 
beyond  all  price  ;  she  thought  it  worth  ten  thousand  worlds  to  her,  but 
yet  to  the  Son  of  God  she  knew  it  to  be  a  mere  crumb,  so  rich  is  lie 
in  power  to  heal  and  so  full  of  goodness  and  blessing.  If  a  man  give  a 
crumb  to  a  dog  he  has  a  little  the  less,  but  if  Jesus  gives  mercy  to  the 
greatest  of  sinners  he  has  none  the  less,  he  is  just  as  rich  in  condescen- 
sion and  mercy  and  power  to  forgive  as  he  was  before.  The  woman'i* 
argument  was  most  potent.  She  was  as  wise  as  she  was  earnest,  and- 
best  of  all,  she  beheved  most  marvellously. 

I  shall  close  this  outline  of  the  argument  by  saying  that  at  bottom 
the  woman  was,  in  reality,  arguing  according  to  the  eternal  purpose  of 
God  ;  for  what  was  the  Lord's  grand  design  in  giving  the  bread  to  the 
t'hildren,  or,  in  other  words,  sending  a  divine  revelation  to  Israel  ?  Why, 
it  always  was  his  purpose  that  through  the  children  the  dogs  should  get 
the  bread ;  that  through  Israel  the  gospel  should  be  handed  to  the 
Gentiles.  It  had  always  been  his  plan  to  bless  his  own  heritage  that  his 
way  might  be  known  upon  earth,  his  saving  health  among  all  nations ; 
and  this  woman  somehow  or  other,  by  a  divine  instinct,  fell  into  the 
divine  method.  Though  she  had  not  sj^ied  out  the  secret,  or  at  least  it 
is  not  told  us  that  she  did  so  in  so  many  words,  yet  there  was  the  innate 
force  of  her  argument.  In  other  words,  it  ran  thus — "  It  is  through  the 
children  that  the  dogs  have  to  be  fed  :  Lord,  I  do  not  ask  thee  to  cease 
giving  the  children  their  bread  ;  nor  do  I  even  ask  thee  to  huiTy  on  the 
children's  meal ;  let  them  be  fed  first,  but  even  while  they  are  eating  let 
me  have  the  crumbs  which  drop  from  their  well-filled  hands,  and  I  will 
be  content."  There  is  a  brave  argument  for  you,  poor  coming  sinner.  I 
leave  it  in  your  hands,  and  pray  the  Spirit  of  God  to  help  you  to  use  it, 
and  if  you  can  turn  it  to  good  account  you  shall  prevail  with  the  Lord 
this  day. 

IV.  Our  last  and  closing  head  is  this :  faith  wins  her  suit. 
This  woman's  faith  first  won  a  commendation  for  itself.  Jesus  said,  "  0, 
woman,  great  is  thy  faith."  She  had  not  heard  of  the  prophecies  con- 
cerning Jesus  ;  she  was  not  bred  and  born  and  educated  in  a  way  in 
which  she  was  likely  to  become  a  believer,  and  yet  did  become  a  believer 
of  the  first  class.  It  was  marvellous  that  it  should  be  so,  but  grace 
delights  in  doing  wonders.  She  had  not  seen  the  Lord  before  in  her  life, 
she  was  not  like  those  who  had  associated  with  him  for  many  months : 
and  yet,  with  but  one  view  of  him,  she  gained  this  great  faith.  It  was 
astonishing,  but  the  grace  of  God  is  always  astonishing.  Perhaps  she 
had  never  seen  a  miracle  :  all  that  her  faith  had  to  rest  upon  was  that  she 
had  heard  in  her  own  country  that  the  Messiah  of  the  Jews  was  come, 
and  she  believed  that  the  Man  of  Nazareth  was  he,  and  on  this  slie 
relied.  0 brethren,  witli  all  our  ad\antages,  with  the  opport unities  that 
we  have  of  knowing  the  whole  life  of  Christ,  and  understanding  tlic 
doctrines  of  the  gospel  as  they  are  revealed  to  us  in  the  New  Testament, 
with  many  years  of  observation  and  experience,  our  faith  ought  to  be 
much  stronger  than  it  is.  Docs  not  tliis  poor  woman  shame  us  when 
we  sec  her  with  her  slender  opportunities  nevertheless  so  strong  in  faith, 
BO  tliat  Jesus  himself  commending  iier  says,  **  0  woman,  great  is  thy 
faith." 


THE  LITTLE  DOGS.  467 

But  her  faith  prevailed  further,  that  it  ivon  a  commendalwn,  for  iha 
mode  of  its  acLon,  for,  according  to  Mark,  Jesus  said,  "  Go  thy  way ;  for 
this  saying  the  devil  is  gone  out  of  thy  daughter;"  as  if  he  rewarded 
the  saying  as  well  as  thefaith  which  suggested  it.  He  was  so  dehghted 
with  the  wise,  and  prudent,  and  humble  yet  courageous  manner  in  which 
she  turned  his  words  against  himself,  that  he  said,  "  For  this  saying  the 
devil  is  gone  out  of  thy  daughter."  The  Lord  who  commends  faith 
afterwards  commends  the  fruits  and  acts  of  faith.  The  tree  consecrates 
the  fruit.  No  man's  actions  can  be  acceptable  with  God  till  he  himself 
is  accepted,  but  the  woman  having  been  accepted  on  her  faith,  the 
results  of  her  fliith  Avere  agreeable  to  the  heart  of  Jesus. 

The  woman  also  gained  Iter  desire :  "  The  devil  is  gone  out  of  thy 
daughter,"  and  he  was  gone  at  once.  She  had  only  to  go  home  and  find 
her  daughter  on  the  bed  taking  a  quiet  rest,  which  she  had  not  done 
since  the  demon  had  possessed  her.  Our  Lord,  when  he  gave  her  the 
desire  of  her  heart  gave  it  in  a  grand  manner,  he  gave  her  a  sort  of 
carte  hlanclie,  and  said,  "  Be  it  unto  thee  even  as  thou  wilt."  1  do  not 
know  that  any  other  person  ever  had  such  a  word  said  to  him  as  this 
woman,  "  Be  it  unto  thee  even  as  thou  wilt."  It  was  as  if  the  Lord 
of  glory  surrendered  at  discretion  to  the  conquering  arms  of  a  woman's 
faith.  The  Lord  grant  to  you  and  me  in  all  times  of  our  struggling  to 
be  able  thus  by  faith  still  to  conquer,  and  we  cannot  imagine  how  great 
will  be  the  spoil  which  we  shall  divide  when  the  Lord  shall  say,  "  Be 
it  unto  thee  even  as  thou  wilt." 

The  close  of  all  is  this :  this  woman  is  a  lesson  to  all  outsiders,  to 
you  who  think  yourselves  beyond  the  pale  of  hope,  to  you  who  were 
not  brought  up  to  attend  the  house  of  God,  who  perhaps  have  been 
negligent  of  all  rehgion  for  almost  all  your  lifetime.  This  poor  woman 
is  a  Sidonian ;  she  comes  of  a  race  that  had  l)een  condemned  to  die 
many  centuries  before,  one  of  the  accursed  seed  of  Canaan,  and  yet  for 
all  that  she  became  great  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  because  she  believed, 
and  there  is  no  reason  why  those  who  are  reckoned  to  be  quite  outside 
the  church  of  God  should  not  be  in  the  very  centre  of  it,  and  be  the 
most  burning  and  shining  lights  of  the  whole.  0  you  poor  outcasts 
and  far  off  ones,  take  heart  and  comfort,  and  come  to  Jesus  Christ  and 
trust  yourseives  in  his  hands. 

This  woman  is  next  of  all  an  example  to  those  who  think  they  have 
been  repulsed  in  their  endeavours  after  salvation.  Have  you  been 
praying,  and  have  you  not  succeeded  ?  Have  you  sought  the  Lord,  and 
do  you  seem  to  be  more  unhappy  than  ever  ?  Have  you  made  attempts 
at  reformation  and  amendment,  and  believed  that  you  made  them  in 
the  divine  strength,  and  have  they  failed  ?  Yet  trust  in  him  whose 
blood  has  not  lost  its  efficacy,  whose  promise  has  not  lost  its  truth, 
and  whose  arm  has  not  lost  its  power  to  save.  Cling  to  the  cross, 
sinner.  If  the  earth  sink  beneath  thee,  cling  on ;  if  storms  should 
rage,  and  all  the  floods  be  out,  and  even  God  himself  seem  to  be  against 
thee,  cling  to  the  cross.  There  is  thy  hope.  Thou  canst  not  perish 
there. 

This  is  a  lesson,  next,  to  every  intercessor.  This  woman  was  not 
pleading  for  herself,  she  was  asking  for  another.  Oh,  when  you  plead 
for  a  fellow  sinner  do  not  do  it  in  a  cold-hearted  manner  ;  plead  as  for 


468  METROPOLITAK   TABEKNACLE   PULPIT. 

your  own  soul  and  your  own  life.  That  man  will  prevail  witli  God  as 
an  intercessor  who  solemnly  bears  the  matter  upon  his  own  heart  and 
makes  it  his  own,  and  with  tears  entreats  an  answer  of  peace. 

Lastly,  recollect  that  this  mighty  ■woman,  this  glorious  woman,  is  a 
lesson  to  every  mother,  for  she  was  pleading  for  her  little  daughter. 
Maternal  instinct  makes  the  weakest  strong,  and  the  most  timid  brave. 
Even  among  poor  beasts  and  birds,  how  powerful  is  a  mother's  love. 
Why,  the  poor  little  robin  which  would  be  frightened  at  the  approach  of 
a  footstep,  will  sit  upon  its  nest  when  the  intruder  comes  near  when  her 
little  ones  are  in  danger.  A  mother's  love  makes  her  heroic  for  her 
child ;  and  so  when  you  are  pleading  with  God  plead  as  a  mother's  love 
suggests  to  you,  till  the  Lord  shall  say  to  you  also,  "  0  woman,  great  is 
thy  faith ;  the  devil  is  gone  out  of  thy  daughter ;  be  it  unto  thee  even 
as  thou  wilt."  I  leave  that  last  thought  with  parents  as  an  encoiurage- 
ment  to  pray.    The  Lord  stir  you  up  to  it,  for  Jesus'  sake.    Amen. 


Portion  op  Scripture  read  before  Sermon — Matthew  xv.  1—31, 


Hymns  from  "Our  Own  Hymn  Book"— 906,  551,  540. 


JUxtifoplitan  Sakrnatk  fulpl. 


SALVATION  BY  WORKS,  A  CRIMINAL  DOCTRINE. 


Delivered  on  Lord's-day  Morning,  April  18th,  1880,  by 

C.  H.  SPURGEON, 

AT    THE    METROPOIJTAN    TABERNACLE,    NEWINGTON. 


"  I  do  not  frustrate  the  grace  of  God :  for  if  righteousness  come  by  the  law,  then 
Christ  is  dead  in  vain." — Galatians  ii.  21. 

The  idea  of  salvation  by  the  merit  of  our  own  works  is  exceedingly 
insimiaUng.  It  matters  not  how  often  it  is  refuted,  it  asserts  itself 
again  and  again  ;  and  when  it  gains  the  least  foothold  it  soon  makes 
great  advances.  Hence  Paul,  who  was  determined  to  show  it  no  quarter, 
opposed  everything  which  bore  its  likeness.  He  was  determined  not  to 
permit  the  thin  end  of  the  wedge  to  be  introduced  into  the  church,  for 
well  he  knew  that  willing  hands  would  soon  be  driving  it  home  :  hence 
when  Peter  sided  with  the  Judaizing  party,  and  seemed  to  favour  those 
who  demanded  that  the  Gentiles  should  be  circumcised,  our  brave  apostle 
withstood  him  to  the  face.  He  fought  always  for  salvation  by  gi'ace 
through  faith,  and  contended  strenuously  against  all  thought  of  righteous- 
ness by  obedience  to  the  precepts  of  the  ceremonial  or  the  moral  law. 
No  one  could  be  more  explicit  than  he  upon  the  doctrine  that  we  are  not 
justified  or  saved  by  works  in  any  degree,  but  solely  by  the  grace  of  God. 
His  trtimpet  gave  forth  no  uncertain  sound,  but  gave  forth  the  clear  note, 
"  By  grace  are  ye  saved  through  faith ;  and  that  not  of  yourselves :  it  is 
the  gift  of  God."  Grace  meant  grace  with  him,  and  he  could  not 
endure  any  tampering  with  the  matter,  or  any  frittering  away  of  its 
meaning. 

So  fascinating  is  the  doctrine  of  legal  righteousness  that  the  only  way 
to  deal  with  it  is  Paul's  way.  Stamp  it  out.  Cry  war  to  the  knife 
against  it.  Never  yield  to  it ;  but  remember  the  apostle's  firmness,  and 
liow  stoutly  he  held  his  ground:  "  To  whom,"  saith  he,  "  we  gave  place 
by  subjection,  no,  not  for  an  hour." 

The  error  of  salvation  by  works  is  exceedingly  plausible.  You  will 
constantly  hear  it  stated  as  a  self-evident  truth,  and  vindicated  on 
account  of  its  supposed  practical  usefnlness,  while  the  gospel  doctrine 
of  salvation  by  faith  is  railed  at  and  accused  of  evil  consequences. 
It  is  affirmed  that  if  we  preach  salvation  by  good  works  we  shall  en- 
courage virtue  ;  and  so  it  might  seem  in  theory,  but  history  proves 
by  many  instances  that  as  a  matter  of  fact  where  such  doctrine 
No.  1,534. 


24 'J  MKTRorol.ITAN  TABEllNACIiE  PUI.PIT. 

has  been  preached  virtue  has  become  singularly  uncommon,  and  that 
in  proportion  as  the  merit  of  works  has  been  cried  up,  morality 
has  gone  down.  On  the  other  hand,  where  justification  by  faith  lias 
been  preached,  conversions  have  followed,  and  purity  of  life  has  been 
produced  even  in  the  worst  of  men.  Those  who  lead  godly  and  gracious 
lives  are  ready  to  confess  that  the  cause  of  their  zeal  for  holiness  lies  in 
their  faith  in  Christ  Jesus  ;  but  where  will  you  meet  with  a  devout 
and  upright  man  who  glories  in  his  own  works  ? 

Sclf-rightcousness  is  nnhiral  to  our  fallen  humnnily.  Hence  it  is  the 
essence  of  all  ftilse  religions.  Be  they  what  they  may,  they  all  agree 
in  seeking  salvation  by  our  own  deeds.  He  who  worships  his  idols 
will  torture  his  body,  Avill  fast,  will  perform  long  pilgrimages,  and  do 
or  endure  anything  in  order  to  merit  salvation.  The  Roinish  Church 
holds  up  continually  before  the  eyes  of  its  votaries  the  prize  to  be 
earned  by  self-denial,  by  penance,  by  prayers,  or  by  sacraments,  or  by 
some  other  performances  of  man.  Go  where  you  may,  the  natural 
religion  of  fallen  man  is  salvation  by  his  own  merits.  An  old  divine 
has  well  said,  every  man  is  born  a  heretic  upon  this  point,  and  he 
naturally  gravitates  towards  this  heresy  in  one  form  or  another.  Self- 
salvation,  either  by  his  personal  worthiness,  or  by  his  repentance,  or 
by  his  resolves,  is  a  hope  ingrained  in  human  nature,  and  very  hard  to 
remove.  This  foolishness  is  bound  up  in  the  heart  of  CAery  child,  and 
who  shall  get  it  out  of  him? 

This  erroneous  idea  arises  parfli/  from  ignorance,  for  men  are 
ignorant  of  the  law  of  God,  and  of  what  holiness  really  is.  If  they 
knew  that  even  an  evil  thought  is  a  breach  of  the  law,  and  that 
the  law  once  broken  in  any  point  is  altogether  A'iolated,  they  would 
be  at  once  convinced  that  there  can  be  no  righteousness  by  the 
law  to  those  who  have  already  offended  against  it.  They  are  also  in 
great  ignorance  concerning  themselves,  for  those  very  persons  who 
talk  about  self-righteousness  are  as  a  rule  openly  chargeable  with  fault; 
und  if  not,  were  they  to  sit  down  and  really  look  at  their  own  lives,  they 
would  soon  perceive  even  in  their  best  works  such  impurity  of  motive 
beforehand,  or  such  pride  and  self-congratulation  afterwards,  that  they 
would  see  the  gloss  taken  off  from  all  their  performances,  and  they  would 
be  utterly  ashamed  of  them.  Nor  is  it  ignorance  alone  Avhich  leads  men 
to  self-righteousness,  they  are  also  deceived  by  pride.  Man  cannot 
endure  to  be  saved  on  the  footing  of  mercy ;  he  loves  not  to  plead  guilty 
and  throw  himself  on  the  favour  of  the  great  King ;  he  cannot  brook  to 
be  treated  as  a  pauper,  and  blessed  as  a  matter  of  charity  ;  he  desires  to 
have  a  finger  in  his  own  salvation,  and  claim  at  least  a  little  credit  for 
it.  Proud  man  will  not  have  heaven  itself  upon  terms  of  grace ;  but  so 
long  as  he  can  he  sets  up  one  plea  or  another,  and  holds  to  his  own 
righteousness  as  though  it  were  his  life.  This  self-confidence  also  arises 
from  wicked  unbelief,  for  through  his  self-conceit  man  will  not  believe 
God.  Nothing  is  more  plainly  revealed  in  Scripture  than  this, — that  by 
the  works  of  the  law  shall  no  man  be  justified,  yet  men  in  some  shape 
or  other  stick  to  the  hope  of  legal  righteousness;  they  will  have  it  that 
they  must  prepare  for  grace,  or  assist  mercy,  or  in  some  degree  deserve 
eternal  life.  They  prefer  their  own  flattering  prejudices  to  the  declara- 
tion of  the  heart-searching  God.    The  testimony  of  the  Uoly  Spirit 


SALVATION  BY  WORKS,  A  CRIMINAL  DOCTRINE.  243 

concerning  the  deccitfulness  of  the  heart  is  cast  aside,  and  the  declaration 
ot'  God  that  there  is  none  that  doeth  good,  no,  not  one,  is  altogether 
denied.  Is  not  this  a  great  evil  ?  Self-righteousness  is  also  much  promoted 
by  the  almost  universal  !<pirit  of  irifling  which  is  now  abroad.  Only  while 
men  trifle  with  themselves  can  they  entertain  the  idea  of  personal  merit 
before  God.  He  who  comes  to  serious  thought,  and  begins  to  under- 
stand the  character  of  God,  before  whom  the  heavens  are  not  pure,  and 
the  augcls  are  charged  with  folly, — he,  I  say,  that  comes  to  serious 
thouglit  and  beholds  a  true  vision  of  God,  abhors  himself  in  dust  and 
aslies,  and  is  for  ever  silenced  as  to  any  thought  of  self-justification. 
It  is  because  we  do  not  seriously  examine  our  condition  that  we 
think  ourselves  rich  and  increased  in  goods.  A  man  may  fancy  that 
he  is  prospering  in  business,  and  yet  he  may  be  going  back  in  the 
world.  If  he  does  not  face  his  books  or  take  stock,  he  may  be  living 
in  a  fool's  paradise,  spending  largely  when  on  the  verge  of  bankruptcy. 
IMany  think  well  of  themselves  because  they  never  think  seriously.  They 
do  not  look  below  the  surface,  and  hence  they  are  deceived  by  appear- 
ances. The  most  troublesome  business  to  many  men  is  thought ;  and  the 
last  thing  they  will  do  is  to  weigh  their  actions,  or  test  their  motives,  or 
ponder  their  ways,  to  see  whether  things  be  right  with  them.  Self- 
righteousness  being  supported  by  ignorance,  by  pride,  by  unbelief,  and 
by  the  natural  superficiality  of  the  human  mind,  is  strongly  entrenched 
and  cannot  readily  be  driven  out  of  men. 

Yet  self-righteousness  is  evidently  evil,  for  it  makes  light  of  sin.  It 
talks  of  merit  in  the  case  of  one  who  has  already  transgressed,  and  boasts 
of  excellence  in  reference  to  a  fallen  and  depraved  creature.  It  prattles 
of  little  faults,  small  failures,  and  slight  omissions,  and  so  makes  sin  to 
be  a  venial  error  which  may  be  readily  overlooked.  Not  so  faith  in  God, 
for  though  it  recognises  pardon,  yet  that  pardon  is  seen  to  come  in  a 
way  which  proves  sin  to  be  exceeding  sinful.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  doctrine  of  salvation  by  works  has  not  a  word  of  comfort  in  it  for 
the  fallen.  It  gives  to  the  elder  son  all  that  his  proud  heart  can 
claim,  but  for  the  prodigal  it  has  no  welcome.  The  law  has  no  invita- 
tion for  the  sinner,  for  it  knows  nothing  of  mercy.  If  salvation  be  by  the 
works  of  the  law,  what  must  become  of  the  guilty,  and  the  fallen,  and  the 
abandoned?  By  what  hopes  can  these  be  recalled?  This  unmerciful 
doctrine  bars  the  door  of  hope,  and  hands  over  the  lost  ones  to  the 
executioner,  in  order  that  the  proud  Pharisee  may  air  his  boastful 
righteousness,  and  thank  God  that  he  is  not  as  other  men  are. 

It  is  the  intense  selfishness  of  this  doctrine  which  condemns  it  as  an 
evil  thing.  It  naturally  exalts  self.  If  a  man  conceives  that  he  will  be 
saved  by  his  own  works  he  thinks  himself  somewhat,  and  glories  in  the 
dignity  of  human  nature  :  when  he  has  been  attentive  to  religious 
exercises  he  rubs  his  liands  and  feels  that  he  deserves  well  of  his  Maker ; 
he  goes  home  to  repeat  his  prayers,  and  ere  he  falls  asleep  he  wonders 
how  he  can  have  grown  to  be  so  good  and  so  much  superior  to  those 
around  him.  When  he  walks  abroad  he  feels  as  if  he  dwelt  apart  in 
native  excellence,  a  person  much  distinguished  from  "  the  vulgar  herd," 
a  being  whom  to  know  is  to  admire.  AH  the  while  he  considers  himself 
to  be  very  humble,  and  is  often  amazed  at  his  own  condescension.  What 
i.s  this  but  a  most  hateful  spirit?     God,  who  sees  the  heart,  loathes  it. 


244  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE   PULPIT, 

ITe  will  accept  the  humble  and  the  contrite,  but  he  puts  far  from  him 
those  who  glory  in  themselves.  Indeed,  my  brethren,  what  have  we  to 
glory  in  ?  Is  not  every  boast  a  lie  ?  What  is  this  self-hood  but  a 
peacock  feather,  fit  only  for  the  cap  of  a  fool  ?  May  God  deliver  us  from 
exalting  self;  and  yet  wo  cannot  be  delivered  from  so  doing  if  we  huld  in 
any  degree  the  doctrine  of  salvation  by  our  own  good  works. 

At  this  time  I  desire  to  shoot  at  the  very  heart  of  that  soul-desfcvoying 
doctrine,  while  I  show  you,  in  the  first  place,  that  two  fjvcat  crimes  are 
contained  in  the  idea  of  self-justification,  "When  I  have  brought  forth 
that  indictment,  I  shall  further  endeavour  to  show  that  these  iiro  (jreat 
crimes  are  committed  t)y  many,  and  then,  thirdly,  it  will  be  a  delight  to 
assert  that  the  true  believer  does  not  fall  into  these  crimes.  May  God,  the 
Holy  Spirit,  help  us  while  meditating  upon  this  important  theme. 

I.  First,  then,  two  great  crimes  are  contained  in  self- 
righteousness.  These  high  crimes  and  misdemeanours  are  frustrating 
the  grace  of  God,  and  making  Christ  to  have  died  in  vain. 

The  first  is  the  frustration  of  the  grace  of  God.  The  word  here  trans- 
lated "  frustrate  "  means  to  make  void,  to  reject,  to  refuse,  to  regard  as 
needless.  Now,  he  that  hopes  to  he  saved  by  his  own  righteousness 
rejects  the  grace  or  free  favour  of  God,  regards  it  as  useless,  and  in  that 
sense  frustrates  it.  It  is  clear,  first,  that  if  righteousness  come  by  the 
law,  the  grace  of  God  is  no  longer  required.  If  we  can  be  saved  by  our 
own  merits  we  need  justice,  but  we  certainly  do  not  want  mercy.  If  we 
can  keep  the  law,  and  claim  to  be  accepted  as  a  matter  of  debt,  it  is  plain 
that  we  need  not  turn  suppliants,  and  crave  for  mercy.  Grace  is  a  super- 
fluity w^here  merit  can  be  j^roved.  A  man  who  can  go  into  court  with  a 
clear  case  and  a  bold  countenance  asks  not  for  mercy  of  the  judge,  and 
the  offer  of  it  would  insult  him.  "Give  me  justice,"  he  says  ;  "give 
me  my  rights "  ;  and  he  stands  up  for  them  as  a  brave  Englishman 
should  do.  It  is  only  when  a  man  feels  that  the  law  condemns  him  that 
he  puts  in  a  plea  for  mercy.  Nobody  ever  dreamed  of  recommending  au 
innocent  man  to  mercy.  I  say,  then,  that  the  man  who  believes  that  by 
keeping  the  law,  or  by  practising  ceremonies,  or  by  undergoing  religious 
pcribrmances,  he  can  make  himself  acceptable  before  God,  most  decidedly 
puts  the  grace  of  God  on  one  side  as  a  superfluous  thing  as  far  as  he  is 
concerned.  Is  it  not  clearly  so  ?  And  is  not  this  a  crimson  crime — this 
frustration  of  the  grace  of  God? 

Next,  he  maJcesthe  grace  of  God  to  be  at  least  a  secondary  thing,  which 
is  only  a  lower  degree  of  the  same  error.  ]\Iany  think  that  they  are  to 
merit  as  much  as  they  can  by  their  own  exertions,  and  then  the  grace  of 
God  will  make  up  for  the  rest.  The  theory  seems  to  be  that  we  are  to 
keep  the  law  as  far  as  we  can,  and  this  imperfect  obedience  is  to  stand 
good,  as  a  sort  of  composition,  say  a  shilling  in  the  pound,  or  fifteen 
shiilings  in  the  pound,  according  as  man  judges  of  his  own  excellence; 
and  then  what  is  required  over  aiul  above  our  own  hard-earned  money 
the  grace  of  God  Avill  supply  :  in  short,  the  plan  is  every  man  his  own 
ISaviour,  and  Jesus  Christ  and  his  grace  make-weights  for  our  de- 
ficiencies. Whether  men  sec  it  or  not,  this  admixture  of  law  and  grace 
is  most  dishonouring  to  the  salvation  of  Jesus  Christ.  It  makes  the 
Saviour's  work  to  be  incomplete,  though  on  the  cross  he  cried,  "It  ia 
finished."     Yea,  it  even  treats  it  iis  being  utterly  ineffectual,  since  it 


SALVATION   BY   WORKS,   A   CllIMINAL   DOCTRINE.  245 

appeals  to  be  of  no  avail  till  man's  works  are  added  to  it.  According  to 
this  notion,  we  are  redeemed  as  much  by  our  own  doino-s  as  by°the 
ransom  price  of  Jesus'  blood,  and  man  and  Christ  go  shares  both  in  the 
work  and  m  the  glory.  This  is  an  intense  form  of  arrogant  treason 
agamst  the  majesty  of  divine  mercy:  a  capital  crime,  which  will  con- 
demn all  who  contnme  in  it.  May  God  dehver  us  from  thus  insulting 
the  throne  of  grace  by  bringing  a  purchase-price  in  our  hand,  as  if  ^ve 
could  deserve  such  peerless  gifts  of  love. 

More  than  that,  he  who  trusts  in  himself,  his  feelings,  his  works  his 
prayers,  or  m  anything  except  the  grace  of  God,  virtuaUy  gives  np  trusf- 
xng  m  the  grace  of  God  altogether:  for  be  it  known  unto  you,  that  God's 
grace  will  never  share  the  work  with  man's  merit.  As  oil  will  not  com- 
bme  with  water,  so  neither  will  hmnan  merit  and  heavenly  mercy  mix 
together.  The  apostle  saith  in  Romans  xi.  6,  "  If  by  grace,  then  it  is 
no  more  of  works :  otherwise  grace  is  no  more  grace.  But  if  it  be  of 
works,  then  is  it  no  more  grace :  otherwise  work  is  no  more  work  " 
You  must  either  have  salvation  wholly  because  you  deserve  it,  or  wholiy 
because  God  graciously  bestows  it  though  you  do  not  deserve  it  You 
must  receive  salvation  at  the  Lord's  hand  either  as  a  debt  or  as  a  charity 
there  can  be  no  mingling  of  the  ideas.  That  which  is  a  pure  donation 
ot  lavour  cannot  also  be  a  reward  of  personal  deserving.  A  combination 
ot  the  tu-o  principles  of  law  and  grace  is  utterly  impossible.  Trust  in 
our  own  works  in  any  degree  eflPectually  shuts  us  out  from  all  hope  of 
salvation  by  grace ;  and  so  it  frustrates  the  grace  of  God. 

This  is  another  form  of  this  crime,  that  when  men  preach  up  human 
doings  safiermgs,  feelings,  or  emotions  as  the  ground  of  salvation,  then 
take  off  the  sinner  from  confidence  in  Christ,  for  as  long  as  a  man  caii 
maintain  any  hope  in  himself  he  will  never  look  to  the  Redeemer  AVe 
may  preach  for  ever  and  ever,  but  as  long  as  there  remains  latent  in  any 
one  bosom  a  hope  that  he  can  effectually  clear  himself  from  sin  and  wiii 
the  tavour  of  God  by  his  own  works,  that  man  will  never  accept  the 
proclamation  of  free  pardon  through  the  blood  of  Christ.  AVe  know 
that  we  cannot  frustrate  the  grace  of  God  :  it  will  have  its  way,  and 
the  eternal  purpose  shaU  be  fulfilled  ;  but  as  the  tendency  of  all  teachino- 
which  mixes  up  works  with  grace  is  to  take  men  off  from  believing  in 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  its  tendency  is  to  frustrate  the  grace  of  God,  and 
every  act  is  to  be  judged  by  its  tendency  even  if  the  Lord's  divine  power 
prevents  its  working  out  its  natural  result.  No  man  can  lay  another 
tuuudation  than  that  which  is  laid,  but  inasmuch  as  they  try  to  do  so 
they  are  guilty  of  despising  the  foundation  of  God  as  much  as  those 
builders  ot  the  olden  time  who  rejected  the  stone  which  God  had  chosen 
to  be  the  head  of  the  corner.  May  the  grace  of  God  keep  us  from  such 
a  crime  as  this,  lest  the  blood  of  other  men's  souls  should  ci-imson  our 
garments. 

This  hoping  to  be  saved  by  our  own  righteousness  rohs  God  of  his 
glory.  ^  R  as  good  as  says,  "We  want  no  grace;  we  need  no  free 
avour.  It  reads  of  the  new  covenant  which  infinite  love  has  made 
but  by  clinging  to  the  old  covenant  it  puts  dishonour  upon  it  In 
Its  heart  it  murmurs,  "  What  need  of  this  covenant  of  grace  ?  The 
cm  enant  ot  works  answers  every  purpose  for  us."  It  reads  of  the  great 
?itt  ot  grace  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  it  does  despite  theretQ 


246  METEOPOLITAN  TABERNACLE  PULPIT. 

by  the  secret  thought  that  human  doings  are  as  good  as  tlie  hfe  and 
death  of  the  Son  of  God.  It  cries,  "  We  will  not  have  this  man  to 
save  us."  A  self-righteous  hope  casts  a  slur  upon  the  glory  of  God, 
since  it  is  clear  that  if  a  man  could  be  saved  by  his  own  works,  he  would 
naturally  have  the  honour  of  it ;  but  if  a  man  be  saved  by  the  free 
^ace  of  God,  then  God  is  glorified.  Woe  unto  those  who  teach  a  doc- 
trine which  would  pluck  the  crown  royal  from  the  head  of  our  sovereign 
Lord  and  disgrace  the  throne  of  his  glory.  God  help  us  to  be  clear  of 
this  rank  offence  against  high  heaven. 

I  grow  warm  upon  such  a  subject  as  this,  for  my  indignation  rises 
against  that  which  does  dishonour  to  my  Lord,  and  frustrates  his  grace. 
This  is  a  sin  so  gross  that  even  the  heathen  cannot  commit  it.  They 
have  never  heard  of  the  grace  of  God,  and  therefore  they  cannot  put  a 
slight  upon  it  :  when  they  perish  it  will  be  with  a  far  lighter  doom  than 
those  who  have  been  told  that  God  is  gracious  and  ready  to  pardon,  and 
yet  turn  on  their  heel  and  wickedly  boast  of  innocence,  and  pretend  to 
be  clean  in  the  sight  of  God.  This  is  a  sin  which  devils  cannot  commit. 
With  all  the  obstinacy  of  their  rebellion,  they  can  never  reach  to  this. 
They  have  never  had  the  sweet  notes  of  free  grace  and  dying  love  ring- 
ing in  their  ears,  and  therefore  they  have  never  refused  the  heavenly 
invitation.  AVhat  has  never  been  presented  to  their  acceptance  cannot 
be  the  object  of  their  rejection.  Thus,  then,  my  hearer,  if  you  should 
iixll  into  this  deep  ditch  you  will  sink  lower  than  the  heathen,  lower 
than  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  and  lower  than  the  devil  himself.  Wake 
up,  I  pray,  and  do  not  dare  to  frustrate  the  grace  of  God. 

The  second  great  crime  which  self-justification  commits  is  making 
Christ  to  he  dead  in  vain.  This  is  plain  enough.  If  salvation  can  be  by 
the  works  of  the  law,  why  did  our  Lord  Jesus  die  to  save  us  ?  0,  thou 
bleeding  Lamb  of  God,  thine  incarnation  is  a  marvel,  but  thy  death  upon 
the  accursed  tree  is  such  a  miracle  of  mercy  as  fills  all  heaven  with 
astonishment.  Will  any  dare  to  say  that  thy  death,  0  incarnate  God,  was 
a  superfluity,  a  wanton  waste  of  suffering  ?  Do  they  dare  think  thee  a 
generous  but  unwise  enthusiast  whose  death  was  needless  ?  Can  there 
be  any  who  think  thy  cross  a  vain  thing  ?  Yes,  thousands  virtually  do 
this,  and,  in  fact,  all  do  so  who  make  it  out  that  men  might  have  been 
saved  in  some  other  way,  or  may  now  be  saved  by  their  own  williugs 
and  doings. 

They  who  say  that  the  death  of  Christ  goes  only  part  of  the  way,  but 
that  man  must  do  something  in  order  to  merit  eternal  life, — these,  I  say, 
make  this  death  of  Christ  to  be  only  partially  effective,  and,  in  yet  clearer 
terms,  ineffectual  in  and  of  itself.  If  it  be  even  hinted  that  the  blood 
of  Jesus  is  not  price  enough  till  man  adds  his  silver  or  his  gold,  then  his 
blood  is  not  our  redemption  at  all,  and  Christ  is  no  Redeemer !  If  it  be 
taught  that  our  Lord's  bearing  of  sin  for  us  did  not  make  a  perfect  atone- 
ment, and  that  it  is  ineffectual  till  we  either  do  or  sull'er  something  to 
complete  it,  then  in  the  supplemental  work  lies  the  real  virtue,  and 
Christ's  work  is  in  itself  insuHieient.  His  death  cry  of  "  It  is  finished," 
must  have  been  all  a  mistake,  if  still  it  is  not  finished  ;  and  if  a  believer 
in  Christ  is  not  completely  saved  by  what  Christ  has  done,  but  nuist  do 
something  himself  to  complete  it,  then  salvation  was  not  finished,  and 
the  Saviour's  work  remains  imperfect  till  we,  poor  sinners,  lend  a  hand 


SALVATION   BY   WORKS,   A   CllIJIINAL   DOCTRINE,  217 

to  make  np  for  his  deficiencies.  What  blasphemy  Hes  in  snch  a  suppn- 
sition  !  Christ  on  Calvary  made  a  needless,  and  a  useless  offering  of 
himself  if  any  man  among  you  can  be  saved  by  the  works  of  the  law. 

This  spirit  also  rejects  the  covenant  which  was  sealed  with  Christ'a 
death.  For  if  we  can  be  saved  by  the  old  covenant  of  works,  then  the 
new  covenant  was  not  required.  In  God's  wisdom  the  new  covenant  was 
brought  in  because  the  first  had  grown  old,  and  was  void  by  transgression, 
but  if  it  be  not  void,  then  the  new  covenant  is  an  idle  innovation,  and  the 
sacrifice  of  Jesus  ratified  a  foolish  transaction.  I  loathe  the  words  while  I 
pronounce  them.  No  one  ever  was  saved  under  the  covenant  of  works, 
nor  ever  will  be,  and  the  new  covenant  is  introduced  for  that  reason ; 
but  if  there  be  salvation  by  the  first,  then  what  need  was  there  of  the 
second?  Self-righteousness,  as  far  as  it  can,  disannuls  the  covenant, 
breaks  its  seal,  and  does  despite  to  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  which  is 
the  substance,  the  certificate,  and  the  seal  of  that  covenant.  If  you  hold 
that  a  man  can  be  saved  by  his  own  good  works,  you  pour  contempt 
upon  the  testament  of  love  which  the  death  of  Jesus  has  put  in  force, 
for  there  is  no  need  to  receive  as  a  legacy  of  love  that  which  can-  be 
earned  as  the  wage  of  work. 

0  sirs,  this  is  a  sin  against  each  person  of  the  sacred  Trinity.  It  is 
a  sin  against  the  Father.  How  could  he  be  wise  and  good,  and  yet  give 
his  only  Son  to  die  on  yonder  tree  in  anguish,  if  man's  salvation  could  be 
wrought  by  some  other  means  ?  It  is  a  sin  against  the  Son  of  God :  you 
dare  to  say  that  our  redemption  price  could  have  been  paid  somehow 
else,  and  that  therefore  his  death  was  not  absolutely  needful  for  the 
redemption  of  the  world ;  or  if  needful,  yet  not  effectual,  for  it  requires 
something  to  be  added  to  it  before  it  can  eflFect  its  purpose.  It  is  a  sin 
against  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  beware  how  you  sin  against  him,  for  such 
sins  are  fatal.  The  Holy  Ghost  bears  witness  to  the  glorious  perfection 
and  unconquerable  power  of  the  Redeemer's  work,  and  woe  to  those  who 
reject  that  witness.  He  has  come  into  the  world  on  purpose  that  he  may 
convince  men  of  the  sin  of  not  beheving  in  Jesus  Christ :  and  therefoi-e 
if  we  think  that  we  can  be  saved  apart  from  Christ  we  do  despite  to  the 
Spirit  of  his  gTace. 

The  doctrine  of  salvation  by  works  is  a  sin  against  all  the  fallen  sons 
of  Adam,  for  if  men  cannot  be  saved  except  by  their  own  works  what 
hope  is  left  for  any  transgressor?  You  shut  the  gates  of  mercy  on 
mankind;  you  condemn  the  guilty  to  die  without  the  possibility  of 
remission.  You  deny  all  hope  of  welcome  to  the  returning  prodigal,  all 
prospect  of  Paradise  to  the  dying  thief.  If  heaven  be  by  works,  thousands 
of  us  will  never  see  its  gates.  I  know  that  I  never  shall.  You  fine 
fellows  may  rejoice  in  your  prospects,  but  what  is  to  become  of  us  ?  You 
ruin  us  all  by  your  boastful  scheme. 

Nor  is  this  all.  It  is  a  sin  against  the  saints,  for  none  of  them  have 
any  other  hope  except  in  the  blood  and  righteousness  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Remove  the  doctrine  of  the  atoning  blood,  and  you  have  taken  all  away ; 
our  foundation  is  gone.  If  you  speak  thus  you  offend  the  whole  genera- 
tion of  godly  men.  I  go  further:  work-mongering  is  a  sin  against  the 
perfect  ones  above.  The  doctrine  of  salvation  by  works  would  silence 
the  hallelujahs  of  heaven.  Hush,  ye  choristers,  what  meaning  is  there  in 
your  song  ?    You  are  chanting,  "  Unto  him  that  loved  us,  and  washed  ua 


248  mi;tiioi'OLItan  tabernacle  puei'it. 

from  our  sins  in  his  own  blood."  Cat  why  sing  ye  so?  If  salvation 
be  by  works,  your  ascriptions  of  praise  are  empty  Ihitteries.  You  ought 
to  sing,  "  Unto  ourselves  who  kept  our  garments  clean,  to  us  be  glory  for 
ever  and  ever";  or  at  least  "unto  ourselves  whose  acts  made  the  Redeeraer'a 
work  effectual  be  a  full  share  of  praise."  Eiit  a  self-lauding  note  was 
never  heard  in  heaven,  and  therefore  we  feel  sin-e  that  the  doctrine  of 
self-justification  is  not  of  God.  I  charge  you,  renounce  it  as  the  foe  of 
(lod  and  man.  This  proud  system  is  a  sin  of  deepest  dye  against  the 
Well-beloved.  I  cannot  endure  to  think  of  the  insult  which  it  puts 
upon  our  dying  Lord.  If  you  have  made  Christ  to  live  in  vain,  that  is 
bad  enough  ;  but  to  represent  him  as  having  died  in  vain !  "What  shall 
be  said  of  this?  That  Christ  came  to  earth  for  nothing  is  a  statement 
most  horrible ;  but  tliat  he  became  obedient  to  the  death  of  the  cross 
without  result  is  profanity  at  its  worst. 

II.  I  will  say  no  more  concerning  the  nature  of  these  sins,  but  in  the 
second  place  proceed  to  the  solemn  tact  that  these  two  great  crimes 
ARE  comjiitted  BY  MANY  PEorLE.  I  am  afraid  they  are  committed 
by  some  who  hear  me  this  day.  Let  everyone  search  himself  and  see  if 
these  accursed  things  be  not  hidden  in  his  heart,  and  if  they  be,  let  him 
cry  unto  God  for  deliverance  from  them. 

Assuredly  these  crimes  are  chargeable  on  those  who  trifle  with  the 
gosppl.  Here  is  the  greatest  discovery  that  was  ever  made,  the  most 
wonderful  piece  of  knowledge  that  ever  was  revealed,  and  yet  you  do 
not  think  it  worth  a  thought.  You  come  now  and  then  to  hear  a  sermon, 
bnt  you  hear  without  heart ;  you  read  the  Scriptures  occasionally,  but  you 
do  not  search  them  as  for  hid  treasure.  It  is  not  your  first  object  in  life 
thoroughly  to  understand  and  heartily  to  receive  the  gospel  which  God 
has  proclaimed  :  yet  such  ought  to  be  the  case.  What,  my  friend, 
does  your  indillerence  say  that  the  grace  of  God  is  of  no  great  value 
in  your  esteem  ?  You  do  not  think  it  worth  the  trouble  of  prayer,  of 
Bible-reading,  and  attention.  The  death  of  Christ  is  nothing  to  you — a 
very  beautiful  fact,  no  doubt ;  you  know  the  story  well,  but  you  do  not 
care  enough  about  it  to  wish  to  be  a  partaker  in  its  benefits.  His  blood 
may  have  power  to  cleanse  from  sin,  but  you  do  not  want  remission  ;  his 
death  may  be  the  life  of  men,  but  you  do  not  long  to  live  by  him.  To 
be  saved  by  the  atoning  blood  does  not  strike  you  as  being  half  so  im- 
portant as  to  carry  on  your  business  at  a  profit  and  acquire  a  fortune 
for  your  tamily.  By  thus  trifling  with  these  precious  things  you  do,  as 
far  as  you  can,  frustrate  the  grace  of  God  and  make  Christ  to  die  iu 
vain. 

Another  set  of  people  who  do  this  are  ///o.<?e  who  have  no  sense  of  guilt. 
Perhaps  they  are  luiturally  anuable,  civil,  honest,  and  generous  pcojile, 
and  tliey  think  that  these  natural  virtues  are  all  that  is  needed.  We 
have  many  such,  in  whom  there  is  much  tb.at  is  lovely,  but  the  one  thing 
needful  is  lacking.  They  are  not  conscious  that  they  ever  did  anything 
very  wrong,  they  think  themselves  certainly  as  good  as  others,  and  in 
Bome  respects  rather  better.  It  is  highly  probable  that  you  are  as  good 
as  others,  and  even  better  than  others,  but  still  do  you  not  see,  my  dear 
friend,  if  I  am  addressing  one  such  person,  that,  if  you  are  so  good  that 
you  are  to  be  saved  by  your  goodness,  you  put  the  grace  of  God  out  of 
court,  and  make  it  vain  ?    The  whole  have  no  need  of  the  physician,  only 


SALVATION  BY  WORKS,  A  CRIMINAL  DOCIRINE.  219 

they  that  are  sick  require  his  skill,  and  therefore  it  was  needless  that 
Christ  should  die  for  such  as  you,  because  you,  in  your  own  opinion, 
had  done  nothing  worthy  of  death.  You  claim  that  you  have  done 
nothing  very  bad;  and  yet  there  is  one  thing  in  which  you  have 
grievously  transgressed,  and  I  beg  you  not  to  be  angry  when  I  charge 
you  with  it.  You  are  very  bad,  because  you  are  so  proud  as  to  think 
yourself  righteous,  though  God  hath  said  that  there  is  none  righteous, 
no,  not  one.  You  tell  your  God  that  he  is  a  liar.  His  Word  accuses  you, 
and  his  law  condemns  you;  but  you  will  not  believe  him,  and  actually 
boast  of  having  a  righteousness  of  your  own.  This  is  high  presumption 
and  arrogant  pride,  and  may  the  Lord  purge  you  from  it.  Will  you  lay 
this  to  heart,  and  remember  that  if  you  have  never  been  guilty  of  any- 
thing else  this  is  sin  enough  to  make  you  mourn  before  the  Lord  day  and 
night  ?  You  have  as  far  as  you  could  by  your  proud  opinion  of  yourself 
made  void  the  grace  of  God,  and  declared  that  Christ  died  in  vain. 
Hide  your  face  for  shame,  and  entreat  for  mercy  for  this  glaring 
oflFence. 

Another  sort  of  people  may  fancy  that  they  shall  escape,  but  we  must 
now  come  home  to  them.  Those  luho  despair  will  often  cry,  "  I  know  I 
cannot  be  saved  except  by  grace,  for  I  am  such  a  gi'eat  sinner ;  but,  alas,  I 
am  too  great  a  sinner  to  be  saved  at  all.  I  am  too  black  for  Christ  to 
Avash  out  my  sins."  Ah,  my  dear  friend,  though  you  know  it  not,  you 
are  making  void  the  grace  of  God,  by  denying  its  power  and  limiting  its 
might.  You  doubt  the  efficacy  of  the  Kedeemer's  blood,  and  the  power 
of  the  Father's  grace.  What !  The  grace  of  God,  is  not  that  able  to 
save  ?  Is  not  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  able  to  forgive  sin  ?  We 
joyfully  sing,— 

*'  Who  is  a  pardoning  God  like  tliee  ? 
Or  who  hath  grace  so  rich  and  free  ?  " 

And  you  say  he  cannot  forgive  you,  and  this  in  the  teeth  of  his  many 
promises  of  mercy.  He  says,  "  All  manner  of  sin  and  of  blasphemy  shall 
be  forgiven  unto  men."  "  Come  now,  and  let  us  reason  together,  saith 
the  Lord :  though  your  sins  be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  as  white  as  snow ; 
though  they  be  red  like  crimson,  they  shall  be  as  wool."  You  say  that 
this  is  not  true.  Thus  you  frustrate  the  grace  of  God,  and  you  make  out 
that  Christ  died  in  vain,  at  least  for  you,  for  you  say  that  he  cannot 
cleanse  you.  Oh  say  not  so :  let  not  thine  unbelief  give  the  lie  to  God. 
Oh,  believe  that  he  is  able  to  save  even  thee,  and  freely,  at  this  very 
moment,  to  put  all  thy  sin  away,  and  to  accept  thee  in  Christ  Jesus. 
Take  heed  of  despondency,  for  if  thou  dost  not  trust  him  thou  wilt  make 
void  his  grace. 

And  those,  I  think,  commit  this  sin  in  a  large  measure,  loho  make  a 
mingle-mangle  of  the  gospel.  I  mean  this:  when  we  preach  the 
gnspel  we  have  only  to  say,  "  Sinners,  you  are  guilty ;  you  never  can  be 
anything  else  but  guilty  in  and  of  yourselves :  if  that  sin  of  yours  be 
pardoned  it  must  be  through  an  act  of  sovereign  grace,  and  not  because 
of  anything  in  you,  or  that  can  be  done  by  you.  Grace  must  be 
given  to  you  because  Jesus  died,  and  for  no  other  reason ;  and  the  way 
by  which  you  can  have  that  grace  is  simply  by  trusting  Christ.  By 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ  you  shall  obtain  full  forgiveness."     This  is  pure 


^50  MRTROPOI-ITAN   TABERNACLE   TULPIT. 

gospel.  If  the  man  turns  round  and  enquires,  "  How  am  I  warranted 
to  believe  in  Christ?"  If  I  tell  him  that  he  is  warranted  to  believe 
in  Christ  because  he  feels  a  law-work  within,  or  because  he  has  holy 
desires,  I  have  made  a  mess  of  it:  I  have  put  something  of  the  man  into 
the  question  and  marred  the  glory  of  grace.  My  answer  is,  "  Man,  your 
right  to  believe  in  Christ  lies  not  in  what  you  are  or  feel,  but  in  God's 
command  to  you  to  believe,  and  in  God's  promise  which  is  made  to  every 
creature  under  heaven,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  Jesus  Christ  shall  be 
saved."  This  is  our  commission,  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach 
the  gospel  to  every  creature.  He  that  believeth  and  is  baptized  shall  be 
saved."  If  you  are  a  creature,  we  preach  that  gospel  to  you.  Trust 
Christ  and  you  are  saved.  Not  because  you  are  a  sensible  sinner,  or  a 
penitent  sinner,  or  anything  else,  but  simply  because  God,  of  his  free 
grace,  with  no  consideration  rendered  to  him  on  your  part,  but  gratis 
and  for  nothing,  freely  forgives  all  your  debts  for  the  sake  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Now  I  have  not  mangled  the  gospel ;  there  it  is,  with  nothing  of  the 
creature  about  it  but  the  man's  faith,  and  even  that  is  the  Holy  Spirit's 
gift.  Those  who  mingle  their  "ifs,"  and  "buts,"  and  insist  upon  it 
"  you  must  do  this,  and  feel  that,  before  you  may  accept  Christ,"  frustrate 
the  grace  of  God  in  a  measure,  and  do  damage  to  the  glorious  gospel 
of  the  blessed  God. 

And  so,  once  more,  do  those  also  who  apostatise.  Do  I  speak  to  any 
here  who  were  once  professors  of  religion,  who  once  used  to  oft'er  prayer 
in  the  assembly,  who  once  walked  as  saints,  but  now  have  gone  back, 
breaking  the  Sabbath,  forsaking  the  house  of  God,  and  living  in  sin  ? 
You,  my  friend,  say  by  your  course  of  life, — "I  had  the  grace  of  God,  but 
I  do  not  care  alDout  it :  it  is  worth  nothing.  I  have  rejected  it,  I  have 
given  it  up  :  I  have  made  it  void :  I  have  gone  back  to  the  world."  You 
do  as  good  as  say,  *'  I  did  once  trust  in  Jesus  Christ,  but  he  is  not  worth 
trusting."  You  have  denied  him,  you  have  sold  your  Lord  and  Master. 
I  will  not  now  go  into  the  question  as  to  whether  you  ever  were  sincere, 
though  I  believe  you  never  were,  but  on  your  own  showing  such  is  your 
case.  Take  heed  lest  these  two  terrible  crimes  should  rest  upon  you,  that 
you  do  frustrate  the  grace  of  God,  and  make  Christ  to  be  dead  in  vain. 

III.  On  my  third  point  I  shall  carry  with  me  the  deep  convictions, 
and  the  joyful  confidences,  of  all  true  believers.  It  is  this,  that  no  true 

BELIEVER  WILL   BE   GUILTY   OF  THESE   CRIMES.      In    his    very    SOul   he 

loathes  these  infamous  sins. 

First  of  all,  no  belicvo'  in  Christ  can  bear  to  think  of  the  frustralintj 
of  the  grace  of  God  or  the  making  of  it  void.  Come,  now,  honest  hearts, 
i  speak  to  you.  Do  you  trust  in  grace  alone,  or  do  you  in  some 
measure  rest  in  yourselves?  Do  you  even  in  a  small  degree  depend 
upon  your  own  feelings,  your  own  faithfulness,  your  own  repentance? 
I  know  you  abhor  the  very  thought.  You  have  not  even  the  shadow  of 
a  hope  nor  the  semblance  of  a  confidence  in  anything  you  ever  were,  or 
ever  can  be,  or  ever  hope  to  be.  You  fling  this  away  as  a  foul  rag  full 
of  contagion,  Avhich  you  would  hurl  out  of  the  universe  if  you  could. 
1  do  avow  that  though  I  have  preached  the  gospel  with  all  my  heart, 
and  glory  in  it,  yet  I  cast  my  preachings  away  as  dross  and  dung 
if  I  think  of  them  as  a  ground  of  reliance:  and  though  I  have  brought 
many  souls  to  Christ,  blessed  be  his  name,  I  never  dare  for  one  raomoiit 


SALVATION   BY   WORKS,   A   CRIMINAL  DOCTRINE.  2i>\ 

put  the  slightest  confidence  in  that  fact  as  to  my  own  salvation,  for  I 
know  that  I,  after  having  preached  to  others,  may  yet  be  a  castaway. 
I  cannot  rest  in  a  successful  ministry,  or  an  edified  church,  but  I  repose 
alone  in  my  Redeemer.  What  I  say  of  myself  I  know  that  each  one 
of  you  will  say  for  himself.  Your  almsgivings,  your  prayers,  your  tears, 
your  suffering  persecution,  your  gifts  to  the  church,  your  earnest  work 
in  the  Sunday-school  or  elsewhere — did  you  ever  think  of  putting  theso 
side  by  side  with  the  blood  of  Christ  as  your  hope  ?  No,  you  never 
dreamed  of  it ;  1  am  sure  you  never  did,  and  the  mention  of  it  is  utterly 
loathsome  to  you  :  is  it  not  ?     Grace,  grace,  grace  is  your  sole  hope. 

Moreover,  you  have  not  only  renounced  all  confidence  in  works,  but 
you  renounce  it  this  day  more  heartily  than  ever  you  did.  The  older 
you  are,  and  the  more  holy  you  become,  the  less  do  you  think  of  trust- 
ing in  yourself.  The  more  we  grow  in  grace  the  more  we  grow  in  love 
with  grace ;  the  more  we  search"  into  our  hearts,  and  the  more  we  know 
of  the  holy  law  of  God,  the  deeper  is  our  sense  of  unworthiness,  and 
consequently  the  higher  is  our  delight  in  rich,  free,  unmerited  mercy, 
the  free  gift  of  the  royal  heart  of  God.  Tell  me,  does  not  your  hearc 
leap  within  you  when  you  hear  the  doctrines  of  grace  ?  I  know  there 
are  some  who  never  felt  themselves  to  be  sinners,  who  shift  about  as  if 
they  were  sitting  on  thorns  when  I  am  preaching  grace  and  nothing  else 
but  grace  ;  but  it  is  not  so  with  you  who  are  resting  in  Christ.  "  Oh, 
no,"  you  say,  "  ring  that  bell  again,  sir !  Eing  that  bell  again ;  there  is 
no  music  like  it.  Touch  that  string  again,  it  is  our  favourite  note." 
When  you  get  down  in  spirits  and  depressed  what  sort  of  book  do  you 
hke  to  read  ?  Is  it  not  a  book  about  the  grace  of  God  ?  What  do  you 
turn  to  in  the  Scriptures  ?  Do  you  not  turn  to  the  promises  made  to 
the  guilty,  the  ungodly,  the  sinner,  and  do  you  not  find  that  only  in 
the  grace  of  God,  and  only  at  the  cross  foot  is  there  any  rest  for  you  ? 
I  know  it  is  so.  Then  you  can  rise  up  and  say  with  Paul,  "  I  do  not 
frustrate  the  grace  of  God.  Some  may,  if  they  like,  but  God  forbid  that 
I  should  ever  make  it  void,  for  it  is  all  my  salvation  and  all  my  desire." 
The  true  believer  is  also  free  from  the  second  crime  :  he  does  net 
make  Christ  to  be  dead  in  vain.  No,  no,  no,  he  trusts  in  the  death  of 
Christ ;  he  puts  his  sole  and  entire  reliance  upon  the  gi'eat  Substitute 
who  loved  and  lived  and  died  for  him.  He  does  not  dare  to  associate 
with  the  lileeding  sacrifice,  his  poor  bleeding  heart,  or  his  prayers,  or  his 
sanctification,  or  anything  else.  "None  but  Christ,  :ione  but  Christ," 
is  his  soul's  cry.  He  detests  every  proposal  to  mix  anything  of 
ceremony  or  of  legal  action  with  the  finished  work  of  Jesus  Christ.  The 
longer  we  live,  I  trust,  dear  brethren,  the  more  we  see  the  glory  of  God 
in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ.  We  are  struck  with  admiration  at  the 
wisdom  of  the  way  by  which  a  substitute  was  introduced, — that  God 
might  smite  sin  and  yet  spare  the  sinner ;  we  are  lost  in  admiration 
dt  the  matchless  love  of  God,  that  he  spared  not  his  own  Son  ;  we  are 
filled  with  reverent  adoration  at  the  love  of  Christ,  that  when  he  knew 
the  price  of  pardon  was  his  blood  his  pity  ne'er  withdrew.  What  is 
more,  we  not  only  joy  in  Christ,  but  we  feel  an  increasing  oneness  with 
him.  We  did  not  know  it  at  first,  but  we  know  it  now,  that  we  w'ere 
crucified  with  him,  that  we  were  buried  witli  him,  that  we  rose  again 
with  him.     We  are  not  going  to  have  ]\roses  for  a  ruler,  or  Aaron  fur 


252  Metropolitan  tabernacle  pulpit. 

a  piiest,  for  Jesus  is  both  king  and  priest  to  us.  Christ  is  in  us, 
and  y\e  are  in  Christ,  and  we  are  complete  in  him,  and  nothing  can 
be  tolerated  as  an  aid  to  the  blood  and  righteousness  of  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord.  We  are  one  with  him,  and  being  one  with  him  we 
realize  more  every  day  that  he  did  not  die  in  vain.  His  death  has 
bought  us  real  life :  his  death  has  already  set  us  free  from  the  bondage  of 
Bin,  and  has  even  now  brought  us  deliverance  from  the  fear  of  eternal 
wrath.  His  death  has  bought  us  life  eternal,  has  bought  us  sonship 
and  all  the  blessings  that  go  with  it,  which  the  Fatherhood  o.f  God 
takes  care  to  bestow;  the  death  of  Christ  has  shut  the  gates  of 
hell  for  us,  and  opened  the  gates  of  heaven;  the  death  of  Christ 
has  wrought  for  us  mercies,  not  visionary  or  imaginary,  but  real  and 
true,  which  this  very  day  we  do  enjoy,  and  so  we  are  in  no  danger  of 
thinking  that  Christ  died  in  vain. 

It  is  our  joy  to  hold  two  great  principles  which  I  will  leave  with 
you,  hoping  that  you  will  suck  marrow  and  fatness  out  of  them. 
These  are  the  two  principles.  The  grace  of  God  cannot  be  frustrated, 
and  Jesus  Christ  died  not  in  vain.  These  two  principles  I  think 
lie  at  the  bottom  of  all  sound  doctrine.  T/ie  grace  of  God  cannot 
he  frustrated  after  all.  Its  eternal  purpose  will  be  fulfilled,  its  sacrifice 
and  seal  shall  be  eflectual :  the  chosen  ones  of  grace  shall  be  brought  to 
glory.  There  shall  be  no  failures  as  to  God's  plan  in  any  point  what- 
ever :  at  the  last  when  all  shall  be  summed  up  it  shall  be  seen  that 
grace  reigned  through  righteousness  unto  eternal  life,  and  the  topstone 
shall  be  brought  out  with  shoutings  of  "  Grace,  grace  unto  it."  And  as 
grace  cannot  be  frustrated,  so  Christ  did  not  die  in  vain.  Some  seem 
to  think  that  there  were  purposes  in  Christ's  heart  which  will  never 
be  accomplished.  We  have  not  so  learned  Christ.  What  he  died 
to  do  shall  be  done;  those  he  bought  he  will  have;  those  he  re- 
deemed shall  be  free ;  there  shall  be  no  failure  of  reward  for  Christ's 
wondrous  work :  he  shall  see  of  the  travail  of  his  soul  and  shall 
be  satisfied.  On  these  two  principles  I  throw  back  my  soul  to  rest. 
Believing  in  his  grace  that  grace  shall  never  fail  me.  "  My  gi'ace  is 
sufficient  for  thee,"  saith  the  Lord,  and  so  shall  it  be.  Believing  in 
Jesus  Christ,  his  death  must  save  me.  It  cannot  be,  0  Calvary,  that 
thou  shouldst  fail ;  0  Gethsemane,  that  thy  bloody  sweat  should  be  in 
vain.  Through  divine  grace,  resting  in  our  Saviour's  precious  blood,  we 
must  be  saved.  Joy  and  rejoice  with  me,  and  go  your  way  to  tell  it 
out  to  others.     God  bless  you  in  so  doing,  for  Jesus'  sake.    Amen. 


Portion  of  Scripture  read  before  Sermon — Gal.  i.  11 ;  ii. 


Hymns  from  "Ouu  Own  Hymn  Book" — 178,  CU7,  554. 


Utttpplitrnt  Saknratk  f  ulpt 


NUMBER  1,500,  OE,  LIFTING  UP  THE  BRAZEN  SERPENT. 


Delivered  on  Lord*s-day  Morning,  October  19th,  1879,  Et 

C.    H.    SPURGEON, 

AT   THE   METROPOLITAN   TABERNACLE,    NEWINGTON. 


"  And  Moses  made  a  serpent  of  brass,  and  put  it  upon  a  pole,  and  it  came  to  pass, 
that  if  a  serpent  had  bitten  any  man,  ■when  he  beheld  the  serpent  of  brass,  he  lived." 
— Numbers  xxi.  9, 

Tins  discourse  when  it  shall  be  printed  will  make  fifteen  hundred 
of  my  sermons  which  have  been  published  regularly  week  by  week.  This 
IS  certainly  a  remarkable  fact.  I  do  not  know  of  any  instance  in  modern 
times  in  which  fifteen  hundred  sermons  have  thus  followed  each  other 
from  the  press  from  one  person,  and  have  continued  to  command  a  large 
circle  of  readers,  I  desire  to  utter  most  hearty  thanksgivings  to  God 
for  divine  help  in  thinking  out  and  uttering  these  sermons, — sermons 
which  have  not  merely  been  printed,  but  have  been  read  with  eagerness, 
and  have  also  been  translated  into  foreign  tongues  ;  sermons  which  are 
publicly  read  on  this  very  Sabbath  day  in  hundreds  of  places  where  a 
minister  cannot  be  found  ;  sermons  which  God  has  blessed  to  the  con- 
version of  multitudes  of  souls.  I  may  and  I  must  joy  and  rejoice  in  this 
great  blessing  which  I  most  heartily  ascribe  to  the  undeserved  favour  of 
the  Lord. 

I  thought  the  best  way  in  which  I  could  express  my  thankfulness 
would  be  to  preach  Jesus  Christ  again,  and  set  him  forth  in  a  sermon  in 
which  the  simple  gospel  should  be  made  as  clear  as  a  child's  alphabet. 
I  hope  that  in  closing  the  list  of  fifteen  hundred  discourses  the  Lord  will 
give  me  a  word  which  will  be  blessed  more  than  any  which  have  preceded 
it,  to  the  conversion  of  those  who  hear  it  or  read  it.  May  those  who  sit 
in  darkness  because  they  do  not  understand  the  freeness  of  salvation  and 
the  easy  method  by  which  it  may  be  obtained,  be  brought  into  the  light 
by  discovering  the  way  of  peace  through  believing  in  Christ  Jesus. 
Forgive  this  prelude ;  my  thankfulness  would  not  permit  mc  to  witli- 
hold  it. 

Concerning  our  text  and  the  serpent  of  brass.  If  you  turn  to  John's 
gospel  you  will  notice  that  its  commencement  contains  a  sort  of  orderly 
list  of  types  taken  from  Holy  Scripture      It  begins  with  the  creation. 

No.  1  500. 


690  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE  PULPIT. 

God  said,  "  Let  there  be  light,"  and  John  becnns  by  declaring  that  Jcsnti, 
the  eternal  Word,  is  "the  true  light,  which  lighteth  every  man  that 
comefch  into  the  world."  Before  he  closes  his  first  chapter  John  has  in- 
troduced a  type  supplied  by  Abel,  for  when  the  Baptist  saw  Jesus  coming 
to  him  he  said,  "  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God  which  taketh  away  the  sin  of 
the  world."  Nor  is  the  first  chapter  finished  before  we  are  reminded  of 
Jacob's  ladder,  for  we  find  our  Lord  declaring  to  Nathanael,  "  Here- 
after ye  shall  see  heaven  open,  and  the  angels  of  God  ascending  and  de- 
scending upon  the  Son  of  man."  By  the  time  we  have  reached  the  third 
chapter  we  have  come  as  far  as  Israel  in  the  ^^^lderness,  and  we  read  the 
joyful  words,  "  As  ]\Ioses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the  wilderness,  even  so 
must  the  Son  of  man  be  lifted  up,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him 
should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life."  AVe  are  going  to  speak  of 
this  act  of  Moses  this  morning,  that  we  may  all  of  us  behold  the  brazen 
serpent  and  find  the  promise  true,  "every  one  that  is  bitten,  when  he 
looketh  upon  the  brazen  serpent,  shall  live."  It  may  be  that  you  who 
have  looked  before  will  derive  fresh  benefit  from  looking  again,  while 
some  who  have  never  turned  their  eyes  in  that  direction  may  gaze  upon 
the  uplifted  Saviour,  and  this  morning  be  saved  from  the  burning  venom 
of  the  serpent,  that  deadly  poison  of  sin  which  now  lurks  in  their  nature, 
and  breeds  death  to  their  souls.  May  the  Holy  Spirit  make  the  word 
effectual  to  that  gracious  end. 

I.  I  shall  invite  you  to  consider  the  subject  first  by  noticing  the 
PERSON  m  mortal  peril  for  whom  the  brazen  serpent  was  made  and 
lifted  up.  Our  text  saith,  "It  came  to  pass  that  if  a  serpent  had  bitten 
any  man,  when  he  beheld  the  serpent  of  brass,  he  lived." 

Let  us  notice  that  the  fiery  serpents  first  of  all  came  among  the  people 
because  they  had  despised  God's  tvay  and  God's  bread.    "  The  soul  of  the 

Eeople  was  much  discouraged  because  of  the  way,"  It  was  God's  way,  he 
ad  chosen  it  for  them,  and  he  had  chosen  it  in  wisdom  and  mercy,  but 
they  murmured  at  it.  As  an  old  divine  says,  "  It  was  lonesome  and 
longsome,"  but  still  it  was  God's  way,  and  therefore  it  ought  not  to  have 
been  loathsome :  his  pillar  of  fire  and  cloud  went  before  them,  and  his 
servants  Moses  and  Aaron  led  them  like  a  flock,  and  they  ought  to  have 
followed  cheferfally.  Every  step  of  their  previous  journey  had  been 
rightly  ordered,  and  they  ought  to  have  been  quite  sure  that  this  com- 
passing of  the  land  of  Edom  was  rightly  ordered,  too.  But,  no ;  they 
quarrelled  with  God's  way,  and  wanted  to  have  their  own  way.  This  is 
one  of  the  great  standing  follies  of  men  ;  they  cannot  be  content  to  \\a\t 
on  the  Lord  and  keep  his  way,  but  they  prefer  a  will  and  way  of  their 
own. 

The  people,  also,  quarrelled  with  God's  food.  lie  gave  them  the  best 
of  the  best,  for  "  men  did  eat  angels'  food  ; "  but  they  called  the  manna 
by  an  opprobrious  title,  which  in  the  Hebrew  has  a  sound  of  ridicule 
about  it,  and  even  in  our  translation  conveys  the  idea  of  contempt. 
They  said  "Our  soul  loatheth  this  light  bread,"  as  if  they  thought  it 
unsubstantial,  and  only  fitted  to  puff  them  out,  because  it  was  easy  of 
digestion,  and  did  not  breed  in  them  that  heat  of  blood  and  tendency  to 
disease  which  a  heavier  diet  would  have  brought  with  it.  Being  dis- 
contented with  their  God  they  quarrelled  with  the  bread  which  he 
set  upon  their  tiililc,  thmigli  it  sni-passed  :i!iy  tliat  mortal  man  has  ever 


NUMBER   1,500,   OR   LIFTING  UP  THE  BliAZEN   SERPENT.         591 

eaten  before  or  since.  This  is  another  of  man's  follies ;  his  heart  refnsea 
to  feed  upon  God's  word  or  believe  God's  truth.  He  craves  for  the 
flesh-meat  of  carnal  reason,  the  leeks  and  the  garlic  of  superstitious 
tradition,  and  the  cucumbers  of  speculation  ;  he  cannot  bring  his  mind 
down  to  believe  the  "Word  of  God,  or  to  accept  truth  so  simple,  so  fitted 
to  the  capacity  of  a  child.  Many  demand  something  deeper  than  the 
divine,  more  profound  than  the  infinite,  more  liberal  than  free  grace. 
They  quarrel  with  God's  way,  and  with  God's  bread,  and  hence  there 
comes  among  them  the  fiery  serpents  of  evil  lusting,  pride,  and  sin.  1 
may  be  speaking  to  some  who  have  up  to  this  moment  quarrelled  with 
the  precepts  and  the  doctrines  of  the  Lord,  and  I  would  affectionately 
warn  them  that  their  disobedience  and  presumption  will  lead  to  sin 
and  misery.  Rebels  against  God  are  apt  to  wax  worse  and  worse.  The 
world's  fashions  and  modes  of  thought  lead  on  to  the  Avorld's  vices  and 
crimes.  If  we  long  for  the  fruits  of  Egypt  w'e  shall  soon  feel  the  ser- 
pents of  Egypt.  The  natural  consequence  of  turning  against  God  like 
serpents  is  to  find  serpents  waylaying  our  path.  If  we  forsake  the  Lord 
in  spirit,  or  in  doctrine,  temptation  will  lurk  in  our  path  and  sin  will 
sting  our  feet. 

I  beg  you  carefully  to  observe  concerning  those  persons  for  whom  the 
brazen  serpent  was  specially  lifted  up  that  they  had  been  actually  bitten  by 
the  serpents.  The  Lord  sent  fiery  serpents  among  them,  but  it  was  not  the 
serpents  being  among  them  that  involved  the  lifting  up  of  a  brazen  ser- 
pent, it  was  the  serpents  having  actually  poisoned  them  which  led  to 
the  provision  of  a  remedy.  "  It  shall  come  to  pass  that  everyone  that 
is  bitten,  when  he  looketh  upon  it,  shall  live."  The  only  people  who  did 
look  and  derive  benefit  from  the  wonderful  cure  uplifted  in  the  midst  of 
the  camp,  were  those  who  had  been  stung  by  the  vipers.  The  common 
notion  is  that  salvation  is  for  good  people,  salvation  is  for  those  who 
fight  against  temptation,  salvation  is  for  the  spiritually  healthy :  but 
how  different  is  God's  word.  God's  medicine  is  for  the  sick,  and  his 
healing  is  for  the  diseased.  The  grace  of  God  through  the  atonement  (jf 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  for  men  who  are  actually  and  really  guilty.  We 
do  not  preach  a  sentimental  salvation  from  fancied  guilt,  but  real  and 
true  pardon  for  actual  offences.  I  care  nothing  for  sham  sinners :  you 
who  never  did  anything  wrong,  you  who  are  so  good  in  yourselves  that  you 
are  all  right — I  leave  you,  for  I  am  sent  to  preach  Christ  to  those  who 
are  full  of  sin,  and  worthy  of  eternal  wrath.  The  serpent  of  brass  was  a 
remedy  for  those  who  had  been  bitten. 

What  an  awful  thing  it  is  to  be  bitten  by  a  serpent !  I  dare  say 
some  of  you  recollect  the  case  of  Gurling,  one  of  the  keepers  of  the 
reptiles  in  the  Zoological  Gardens.  It  happened  in  October,  1852,  and 
therefore  some  of  you  will  remember  it.  This  unhappy  man  was 
about  to  part  with  a  friend  who  was  going  to  Australia,  and  according 
to  the  wont  of  many  he  must  needs  drink  with  him.  He  drank 
considerable  quantities  of  gin,  and  though  he  would  probably  have 
been  in  a  great  passion  if  any  one  had  called  him  drunk,  yet  reasc  u  and 
common-sense  had  evidently  become  overpowered.  He  went  baik  to 
his  post  at  the  gardens  in  an  excited  state.  He  had  some  months 
before  seen  an  exhibition  of  snake- charming,  and  tin's  was  on  hia 
poor   muddled    brain.      He  must   emulate  the  Egyptians,  and    play 


592  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE  TULPIT. 

with  serpents.  First  he  took  out  of  its  cage  a  i\Iorocco  venom-snake, 
put  it  round  his  neck,  twisted  it  about,  and  whirled  it  round  about 
him.  Happily  for  him  it  did  not  arouse  itself  so  as  to  bite.  The  assistant- 
keeper  cried  out,  "  For  God's  sake  put  back  the  snake,"  but  the  foolisli 
man  replied,  "  I  am  inspired."  Putting  back  the  venom-snake,  he  ex- 
claimed, "Now  for  the  cobra."  This  deadly  serpent  was  somewhat 
torpid  with  the  cold  of  the  previous  night,  and  therefore  the  rash  man 
placed  it  in  his  bosom  till  it  revived,  and  glided  downward  till  its  head 
appeared  below  the  back  of  his  waistcoat.  He  took  it  by  the  body, 
about  a  foot  from  the  head,  and  then  seized  it  lower  down  by  the  other 
hand,  intending  to  hold  it  by  the  tail  and  swing  it  round  his  head.  He 
held  it  for  an  instant  opposite  to  his  face,  and  like  a  flash  of  lightning 
the  serpent  struck  him  between  the  eyes.  The  blood  streamed  down  his 
face,  and  he  called  for  help,  but  his  companion  fled  in  horror ;  and,  as  he 
told  the  jury,  he  did  not  know  how  long  he  was  gone,  for  he  was  "  in  a 
maze."  When  assistance  arrived  Gurling  was  sitting  on  a  chair,  having 
restored  the  cobra  to  its  place.  He  said.  "  I  am  a  dead  man."  They 
put  him  in  a  cab,  and  took  him  to  the  hospital.  First  his  speech  went, 
he  could  only  point  to  his  poor  throat  and  moan  ;  then  his  vision  failed 
him,  and  lastly  his  hearing.  His  pulse  gradually  sank,  and  in  one  hour 
from  the  time  at  which  he  had  been  struck  he  was  a  corpse.  There  was 
only  a  little  mark  upon  the  bridge  of  his  nose,  but  the  poison  spread 
over  the  body,  and  he  was  a  dead  man.  I  tell  you  that  story  that  you 
may  use  it  as  a  parable  and  learn  never  to  play  with  sin,  and  also  in  order 
to  bring  vividly  before  you  what  it  is  to  be  bitten  by  a  serpent.  Sup- 
pose that  Gurling  could  have  been  cured  by  looking  at  a  piece  of  brass, 
w^ould  it  not  have  been  good  news  for  him  ?  There  was  no  remedy  for 
that  poor  infatuated  creature,  but  there  is  a  remedy  for  you.  For  men 
who  have  been  bitten  by  the  fiery  serpents  of  sin  Jesus  Christ  is  lifted 
up :  not  for  you  only  who  are  as  yet  playing  with  the  serpent,  not  for  you 
only  who  have  warmed  it  in  your  bosom,  and  felt  it  creeping  over  your 
flesh,  but  for  you  who  are  actually  bitten,  and  are  mortally  wounded. 
If  any  man  be  bitten  so  that  he  has  become  diseased  with  sin,  and  feels  the 
deadly  venom  in  his  blood,  it  is  for  him  that  Jesus  is  set  forth  to-day. 
Though  he  may  think  himself  to  be  an  extreme  case,  it  is  for  such  that 
sovereign  grace  provides  a  remedy. 

The  lite  of  the  serpent  ivas  iMinful.  "We  are  told  in  the  text  that  these 
serpents  were  "fiery"  serpents,  which  may  perhaps  refer  to  their  colour, 
but  more  probably  has  reference  to  the  burning  elTects  of  their  venom. 
It  heated  and  inflamed  the  blood  so  that  every  vein  became  a  boiling 
river,  swollen  with  anguish.  In  some  men  that  poison  of  asps  which 
wc  call  sin  has  inflamed  their  minds.  They  are  restless,  discontented, 
and  full  of  fear  and  anguish.  They  write  their  own  damnation,  they  are 
sure  that  they  are  lost,  they  refuse  all  tidings  of  hope.  You  cannot  get 
them  to  give  a  cool  and  sober  hearing  to  the  message  of  grace.  Sin 
vorks  in  them  such  terror  that  they  give  themselves  over  as  dead  men. 
They  are  in  their  own  apprehension,  as  David  says,  "  free  among  the 
ilead,  like  the  slain  that  lie  in  the  grave,  whom  God  remembers  no 
more."  It  was  for  men  bitten  by  the  fiery  serpents  that  the  brazen 
*erpenb  was  lifted  up,  and  it  is  for  men  actually  envenomed  by  sin  that 
Jcsue  «!  preached.    Jesus  died  for  such  as  are  at  their  wits'  end :  for 


KLTJILER   1,500,   OR  LIFTING   UP  THE  BEAZEN  SERPENT.         593 

such  as  cannot  think  straight,  for  those  who  are  tumbled  up  and  down 
in  their  minds,  for  those  who  are  condemned  ah-eady — for  such  was 
the  Son  of  man  lifted  up  upon  the  cross.  What  a  comfortable  thing 
that  we  are  able  to  tell  you  this. 

The  lite  of  these  strpcnts  teas,  as  I  have  told  you,  mortal  The 
Israelites  could  have  no  question  about  that,  because  in  their  own 
presence  "  much  people  of  Israel  died."  They  saw  their  own  friends  die 
of  the  snake-bite,  and  they  helped  to  bury  them.  They  knew  why  they 
died,  and  were  sure  that  it  was  because  the  venom  of  the  fiery  serpents 
was  in  their  veins.  They  were  left  without  an  excuse  for  imagining  that 
they  could  be  bitten  and  yet  live.  Now,  we  know  that  many  have 
perished  as  the  result  of  sin.  We  are  not  in  doubt  as  to  what  sin  will 
do,  for  we  are  told  by  the  infallible  word,  that  "  the  wages  of  sin  is  death," 
and,  yet  again,  "  Sin,  when  it  is  finished,  bringeth  forth  death."  We  know, 
also,  that  this  death  is  endless  misery,  for  the  Scripture  describes  the  lost 
as  being  cast  into  outer  darkness,  "  where  their  worm  dieth  not,  and 
their  fire  is  not  quenched."  Our  Lord  Jesus  speaks  of  the  condemned 
going  away  into  everlasting  punishment,  where  there  shall  be  weeping, 
and  wailing,  and  gnashing  of  teeth.  We  ought  to  have  no  doubt  about 
this,  and  the  most  of  those  who  profess  to  doubt  it  are  those  who  fear  that 
it  will  be  their  own  portion,  who  know  that  they  are  going  down  to  eternal 
woe  themselves,  and  therefore  try  to  shut  their  eyes  to  their  inevitable 
doom.  Alas,  that  they  should  find  flatterers  in  the  pulpit  who  pander  to 
their  love  of  sin  by  piping  to  the  same  tune.  We  are  not  of  their  order. 
We  believe  in  what  the  Lord  has  said  in  all  its  solemnity  of  dread,  and, 
knowing  the  terrors  of  the  Lord,  we  persuade  men  to  escape  therefrom. 
But  it  was  for  men  who  had  endured  the  mortal  bite,  for  men  upon  whose 
jxallid  faces  death  began  to  set  his  seal,  for  men  whose  veins  were  burning 
with  the  awful  poison  of  the  serpent  within  them — for  them  it  was  that 
God  said  to  Moses,  "  Make  thee  a  fiery  serpent,  and  set  it  upon  a  pole  : 
and  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that  every  one  that  is  bitten,  when  he  looketh 
upon  it,  shall  live." 

2'hc're  is  no  limit  set  to  the  stage  of  ijoisoning :  however  far  gone,  the 
remedy  still  had  power.  If  a  person  had  been  bitten  a  moment  before, 
though  he  only  saw  a  few  drops  of  blood  oozing  forth,  and  only  felt  a 
little  smart,  he  might  look  and  live,  and  if  he  had  waited,  unhappily 
waited,  even  for  half  an  hour,  and  speech  failed  him,  and  the  pulse 
grew  feeble,  yet  if  he  could  but  look  he  would  live  at  once.  No  bound 
was  set  to  the  virtue  of  this  divinely  ordained  remedy,  or  to  the  freedom 
of  its  application  to  those  who  needed  it.  The  promise  had  no  qualifying 
clause, — "  It  shall  come  to  pass  that  everyone  that  is  bitten,  when  he 
looketh  upon  it,  shall  live,"  and  our  text  tells  us  that  God's  promise 
came  to  pass  in  every  case,  without  exception,  for  we  read — "  It  came  to 
pass,  that  if  a  serpent  had  bitten  a72y  man,  when  he  beheld  the  serpent  of 
brass,  he  lived."  Thus,  then,  I  have  described  the  person  who  was  in 
mortal  peril. 

II.  Secondly,  let  us  consider  the  remedy  provided  for  tiim. 
This  was  as  singular  as  it  was  eflectual.  It  teas  purely  of  divine  origin, 
and  it  is  clear  that  the  invention  of  it,  and  the  putting  of  power  into  it, 
was  entirely  of  God.  Men  have  prescribed  several  fomentations,  decoc- 
tioiiS,  and  operations  lor  serpent  bites :  I  do  not  know  how  far  any  of 


b94  METROrOLITAN  TAIiERNACLE  PULPFr, 

them  may  be  depended  upon,  but  this  I  know — I  ^YOuld  rather  not  be 
bitten  in  order  to  try  any  of  them,  even  those  that  are  most  in  vogue. 
For  the  bites  of  the  fiery  serpents  in  the  wilderness  there  was  no  remedy 
whatever,  except  this  which  God  had  provided,  and  at  first  sight  that 
remedy  must  have  seemed  to  be  a  very  unhkely  one.  A  simple  look  to 
the  figure  of  a  serpent  on  a  pole — how  unlikely  to  avail !  How  and  by 
what  means  could  a  cure  be  wrought  through  merely  looking  at  twisted 
brass  ?  It  seemed,  indeed,  to  be  almost  a  mockery  to  bid  men  look  at  the 
very  thing  which  had  caused  their  misery.  Shall  the  bite  of  a  serpent  be 
cured  by  looking  at  a  serpent  ?  Shall  that  which  brings  death  also  bring 
life  ?  But  herein  lay  the  excellency  of  the  remedy,  that  it  was  of  divine 
origin ;  for  when  God  ordains  a  cure  he  is  by  that  very  fact  bound  to 
put  potency  into  it.  He  will  not  devise  a  failure,  nor  prescribe  a  mockery. 
It  should  always  be  enough  for  us  to  know  that  God  ordains  a  way  of 
blessing  us,  for  if  he  ordains,  it  must  accomplish  the  promised  result. 
We  need  not  know  hoio  it  will  work,  it  is  quite  sufficient  for  us  that 
God's  mighty  grace  is  pledged  to  make  it  bring  forth  good  to  our  souls. 

This  particular  remedy  of  a  serpent  lifted  on  a  pole  was  exceedingly 
insiructive,  though  I  do  not  suppose  that  Israel  understood  it.  We  have 
been  taught  by  our  Lord  and  know  the  meaning.  It  was  a  serpent  im- 
paled upon  a  pole.  As  you  would  take  a  sharp  pole  and  drive  it 
through  a  serpent's  head  to  kill  it,  so  this  brazen  serpent  was  exhibited 
as  killed,  and  hung  up  as  dead  before  all  eyes.  It  was  the  image  of  a 
dead  siuike.  Wonder  of  wonders  that  our  Lord  Jesus  should  conde- 
scend to  be  symbolised  by  a  dead  serpent.  The  instruction  to  us  after 
reading  John's  gospel  is  this :  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  infinite  humilia- 
tion, deigned  to  come  into  the  world,  and  to  be  made  a  curse  for  us. 
The  brazen  serpent  had  no  venom  of  itself,  but  it  took  the  form  of  a  fiery 
serpeiit.  Christ  is  no  sinner,  and  in  him  is  no  sin.  But  the  brazen  ser- 
pent was  in  the  form  of  a  serpent ;  and  so  was  Jesus  sent  forth  by  God 
"  in  the  likeness  of  sinful  flesh."  He  came  under  the  law,  and  sin  was 
imputed  to  him,  and  therefore  he  came  under  the  wrath  and  curse  of 
God  for  our  sakes.  In  Christ  Jesus,  if  you  will  look  at  him  upon  the 
cross,  you  will  see  that  sin  is  slain  and  hung  up  as  a  dead  ser- 
pent :  there  too  is  death  put  to  death,  for  "  he  hath  abolished  death  and 
brought  life  and  immortality  to  light:"  and  there  also  is  the  curse  for 
ever  ended  because  he  has  endured  it,  being  "  made  a  curse  for  us,  as  it  is 
written,  cursed  is  every  one  that  hangeth  on  a  tree."  Thus  are  these 
serpents  hung  up  upon  the  cross  as  a  spectacle  to  all  beholders,  all  slain 
by  our  dying  Lord.  Sin,  death,  and  the  curse  are  as  dead  serpents 
now.  Oh,  what  a  sight!  If  you  can  see  it  what  joy  it  will  give 
you.  Had  the  Hebrews  understood  it,  that  dead  serpent,  dangling  from 
a  pole,  would  have  prophesied  to  them  the  glorious  sight  which  this  day 
our  faith  gazes  upon— Jesus  slain,  and  sin,  death,  and  hell  slain  in  him. 
The  remedy,  then,  to  be  looked  to  was  exceedingly  instructive,  and  we 
know  the  instruction  it  was  intended  to  convey  to  us. 

Please  to  recollect  that  in  all  the  camp  of  Israel  there  was  hit  om 
remedy  for  serpent-bite,  and  that  was  the  brazen  serpent ;  and  there  was 
but  one  brazen  sei-pent,  not  two.  Israel  might  not  make  another.  If 
they  had  made  a  second  it  would  have  had  no  eifect :  there  was  one,  and 
only  one,  and  that  was  lifted  high  in  the  centre  of  the  camp,  that  if  any 


NUMBER   1,500,  OR   LIFTING  UP  THE  BRAZEN  SERPENT.         595 

man  u-as  bitten  by  a  serpent  he  might  look  to  it  and  live.  There  is  one 
Saviour,  and  only  one.  There  is  none  other  name  given  under  heaven 
among  men  whereby  we  must  be  saved.  All  grace  is  concentrated  in 
Jesus,  of  whom  we  read,  "  It  pleased  the  Father  that  in  him  should  all 
fulness  dwell."  Christ's  bearing  the  curse  and  ending  the  curse,  Christ's 
being  slain  by  sin  and  destroying  sin,  Christ  bruised  as  to  his  heel  by  the 
old  serpent,  but  breaking  the  serpent's  head, — it  is  Christ  alone  that  we 
must  look  to  if  we  would  live.  0  sinner,  look  to  Jesus  on  the  cross,  for 
he  is  the  one  remedy  for  all  forms  of  sin's  poisoned  wounds. 

There  was  but  one  healing  serpent,  and  that  one  was  IrigM  and 
lustrous.  It  was  a  serpent  of  brass,  and  brass  is  a  shining  metal.  This 
was  newly -made  brass,  and  therefore  not  dimmed,  and  whenever  the  sun 
shone,  there  flashed  forth  a  brightness  from  this  brazen  seipent.  It  might 
have  been  a  serpent  of  wood  or  of  any  other  metal,  if  God  had  so 
ordained  ;  but  he  commanded  that  it  must  be  of  brass,  that  it  might 
have  a  brightness  about  it.  What  a  brightness  there  is  about  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ !  If  we  do  but  exhibit  him  in  his  own  true  metal  he  is 
lustrous  in  the  eyes  of  men.  If  we  will  but  preach  the  gospel  simply, 
and  never  think  to  adorn  it  with  our  philosophical  thought,  there  "is 
enough  brightness  in  Christ  to  catch  a  sinner's  eye,  aye,  and  it  does 
catch  the  eyes  of  thousands.  From  afar  the  everlasting  gospel  gleams 
in  the  person  of  Christ.  As  the  brazen  standard  reflected  the  beams  of 
the  sun,  so  Jesus  reflects  the  love  of  God  to  sinners,  and  seeing  it  they 
look  by  faith  and  live. 

Once  more,  this  remedy  was  an  enduring  one.  It  was  a  serpent  of 
brass,  and  I  suppose  it  remained  in  the  midst  of  the  camp  from  that  day 
forward.  There  was  no  use  for  it  after  Israel  entered  Canaan,  but,  as 
long  as  they  w^ere  in  the  wilderness,  it  was  probably  exhibited  in  the 
centre  of  the  camp,  hard  by  the  tabernacle  door,  upon  a  lofty  standard. 
Aloft  and  open  to  the  gaze  of  all  hung  this  image  of  a  dead  snake — 
the  perpetual  cure  for  serpent  venom.  Had  it  been  made  of  other 
materials  it  might  have  been  broken,  or  have  decayed,  but  a  serpent  of 
brass  would  last  as  long  as  fiery  serpents  pestered  the  desert  camp.  As 
long  as  there  was  a  man  bitten  there  w^as  the  serpent  of  brass  to  heal  him. 
"What  a  comfort  is  this,  that  Jesus  is  still  able  to  save  to  the  uttermost 
all  that  come  to  God  by  him,  seeing  he  ever  livetli  to  make  intercession 
for  them.  The  dying  thief  beheld  the  brightness  of  that  serpent  of  brass 
as  he  saw  Jesus  hanging  at  his  side,  and  it  saved  him  ;  and  so  may  you 
and  I  look  and  live,  for  he  is  "  Jesus  Christ,  the  same  yesterday,  to-day, 
and  for  ever." 

"  Faint  my  head,  and  sick  my  heart, 
^Voimded,  bruis'd,  in  every  part, 
Satan's  fiery  sting  I  feel 
Poison'd  with  the  pride  of  hell : 
But  if  at  the  point  to  die, 
Upward  I  direct  mine  eye, 
Jesus  lifted  up  I  see, 
Live  by  him  who  died  fur  me." 

1  hope  I  do  not  overlay  my  subject  by  these  figures,  I  wish  not  to  do 
so,  but  to  make  it  very  plain  to  you.  All  you  that  are  really  guilty,  all 
you  who  are  bitten  by  the  serpent,  the  sure  reqiedy  for  you  is  to  look  to 


r»96  MliTROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE   PULl'lT. 

Jesus  Christ,  who  took  our  sin  upon  himself,  and  died  in  the  sinner';^ 
stead,  "being  made  sin  for  us  that  we  might  be  made  the  righteousness  of 
God  in  him."  Your  only  remedy  lies  in  Christ,  and  nowhere  else.  Look 
unto  him  and  be  ye  saved. 

III.  This  brings  us,  in  the  third  place,  to  consider  the  application 
OF  the  remedy,  or  the  link  between  the  serpent-bitten  man  and  the 
brass  serpent  which  was  to  heal  him.  "What  was  the  link  ?  It  was  of 
the  most  simple  kind  imaginable.  The  brazen  serpent  might  have  been, 
if  God  had  so  ordered  it,  carried  into  the  house  where  the  sick  man 
was,  but  it  was  not  so.  It  might  have  been  applied  to  him  by  rubbing : 
he  might  have  been  expected  to  repeat  a  certain  form  of  prayer,  or  to 
have  a  priest  present  to  perform  a  ceremony,  but  there  was  nothing  of 
the  kind;  he  had  only  to  look.  It  Avas  well  that  the  cure  was  so 
simple  for  the  danger  was  so  frequent.  Bites  of  the  serpent  came  in 
many  ways ;  a  man  might  be  gathering  sticks,  or  merely  walking  along, 
and  be  bitten.  Even  now  in  the  desert  serpents  are  a  danger.  Mr.  Sibree 
says  that  on  one  occasion  he  saw  what  he  thought  to  be  a  round  stone, 
beautifully  marked.  He  put  forth  his  hand  to  take  it  up,  when  to  his 
horror  he  discovered  that  it  was  a  coiled-up  living  serpent.  All  the  day 
long  when  fiery  serpents  were  sent  among  them  the  Israelites  must  have 
been  in  danger.  In  their  beds  and  at  their  meals,  in  their  houses  and 
when  they  went  abroad,  they  were  in  danger.  These  serpents  are 
called  by  Isaiah  "flying  serpents,"  not  because  they  do  fly,  but  be- 
cause they  contract  themselves  and  then  suddenly  spring  up,  so  as  to 
reach  to  a  considerable  height,  and  a  man  might  be  well  buskiued  and 
yet  not  be  beyond  the  reach  of  one  of  these  malignant  reptiles.  What 
was  a  man  to  do  ?  He  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  stand  outside  his  tent 
door,  and  look  to  the  place  where  gleamed  afiir  the  brightness  of  the 
serpent  of  brass,  and  the  moment  he  looked  he  was  healed.  He  had 
notliing  to  do  but  to  look, — no  priest  was  wanted,  no  holy  water,  no 
hocus-pocus,  no  mass-book,  nothing  but  a  look.  A  Romish  bishop  said 
to  one  of  the  early  Reformers,  when  he  preached  salvation  by  simple 
faith,  "  0  Mr.  Doctor,  open  that  gap  to  the  people  and  we  are  undone." 
And  so  indeed  they  are,  for  the  business  and  trade  of  priestcraft  are  ended 
for  ever  if  men  may  simply  trust  Jesus  and  live.  Yet  it  is  even  so. 
Believe  in  him,  ye  sinners,  for  this  is  the  spiritual  meaning  of  looking, 
and  at  once  your  sin  is  forgiven,  and  what  perhaps  is  more,  its  deadly 
power  ceases  to  operate  within  your  spirit.  There  is  life  in  a  look  at 
Jesus ;  is  not  this  simple  enough  ? 

But  please  to  notice  how  very  jjersonal  it  was.  A  man  could  not  be 
cured  by  anything  anybody  else  could  do  for  him.  If  he  had  been  bitten 
by  the  serpent  and  had  refused  to  look  to  the  serpent  of  brass,  and  had 
gune  to  his  bed,  no  physician  could  help  him.  A  pious  mother  might 
kneel  down  and  pray  fur  him,  but  it  would  be  of  no  use.  Sisters  might 
come  in  and  plead,  ministers  might  be  called  in  to  pray  that  the  man 
might  live ;  but  he  must  die  despite  their  prayers  if  he  did  not  look. 
Tiiere  was  only  one  hope  for  his  life — he  must  look  to  that  serpent  of  brass. 
It  is  just  so  with  you.  Some  of  you  have  written  to  me  begging 
me  to  pray  for  you:  so  I  have,  but  it  avails  nothing  unless  you 
yourselves  believe  in  Jesus  Christ.  There  is  not  beneath  the  copes 
of  heaven,  nor  in  he;nen,  any  hope  fur  any  one  of  you  unless  you  wiU 


NUMBER   1,500,   on  LIETIKG    Ur   THE   BitAZEN   SERPENT.  597 

believe  in  Jesus  Christ.  Whoever  you  may  be,  ho'^N'evcr  much  bitten 
of  the  serpent,  and  however  near  to  die,  if  you  will  look  to  the 
Saviour  you  shall  live;  but  if  you  will  not  do  this  you  must  be 
damned,  as  surely  as  you  live.  At  the  last  great  day  I  must  bear  wit- 
ness against  you  that  I  have  told  you  this  straight  out  and  plainly.  "  He 
that  believeth  and  is  baptized  shall  be  saved :  he  that  believeth  not  shall 
be  damned."  There  is  no  help  for  it;  you  may  do  what  you  will, 
join  what  church  you  please,  take  the  Lord's  Supper,  be  baptized,  go 
through  severe  penances,  or  give  all  your  goods  to  feed  the  poor,  but  you 
are  a  lost  man  unless  you  look  to  Jesus,  for  this  is  the  one  remedy ;  and 
even  Jesus  Christ  himself  cannot,  will  not,  save  you  unless  you  look  to 
him.  There  is  nothing  in  his  death  to  save  you,  there  is  nothing  in  his 
life  to  save  you,  unless  you  will  trust  him.  It  has  come  to  this,  you 
must  look,  and  look  for  yourself. 

And  then,  again,  it  is  verij  instructive.  This  looking,  what  did  it 
mean  ?  It  meant  this — self-help  must  be  abandoned,  and  God  must  be 
trusted.  The  w^ounded  man  would  say,  "  I  must  not  sit  here  and  look 
at  my  wound,  for  that  will  not  save  me.  See  there  where  the  serpent 
struck  me,  the  blood  is  oozing  forth,  black  with  the  venom !  How  it 
burns  and  swells !  My  very  heart  is  failing.  But  all  these  reflections 
will  not  ease  me.  I  must  look  away  from  this  to  the  uplifted  serpent  of 
brass."  It  is  idle  to  look  anywhere  except  to  God's  one  ordained  remedy. 
The  Israelites  must  have  understood  as  much  as  this,  that  God  requires 
us  to  trust  him,  and  to  use  his  means  of  salvation.  We  must  do  as  he 
bids  us,  and  trust  in  him  to  work  our  cure ;  and  if  we  will  not  do  this 
we  shall  die  eternally. 

This  way  of  curing  was  intended  that  they  might  magnify  the  love  of 
God,  and  attribute  their  healing  entirely  to  divine  grace.  The  brazen  ser- 
pent was  not  merely  a  picture,  as  I  have  shown  you,  of  God's  putting 
away  sin  by  spending  his  wrath  upon  his  Son,  but  it  was  a  display  of  divine 
love.  And  this  I  know  because  Jesus  himself  said,  "  As  Moses  lifted  up  the 
serpent  in  the  wilderness,  even  so  must  the  Son  of  man  be  lifted  up.  For 
God  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his  only-begotten  Son " :  plainly 
saying  that  the  death  of  Christ  upon  the  cross  was  an  exhibition  of  God's 
love  to  men ;  and  whosoever  looks  to  that  grandest  display  of  God's  love 
to  man,  namely,  his  giving  his  only-begotten  Sou  to  become  a  curse  for 
us,  shall  surely  live.  Now,  when  a  man  was  healed  by  looking  at  the  ser- 
pent he  could  not  say  that  he  healed  himself;  for  he  only  looked,  and 
there  is  no  virtue  in  a  look.  A  believer  never  claims  merit  or  honour  on 
account  of  his  faith.  Faith  is  a  self-denying  grace,  and  never  dares  to 
boast.  Where  is  the  great  credit  of  simply  believing  the  truth,  and 
humbly  trusting  Christ  to  save  you  ?  Faith  glorifies  God,  and  so  our 
liord  has  chosen  it  as  the  means  of  our  salvation.  If  a  priest  had  come 
and  touched  the  bitten  man  he  might  have  ascribed  some  honour  to  the 
priest ;  but  when  there  was  no  priest  in  the  case,  when  there  was  nothing 
except  looking  to  that  brazen  serpent,  the  man  was  driven  to  the 
conclusion  that  God's  love  and  power  had  healed  him.  I  am  not  saved 
by  anything  that  I  have  done,  but  by  what  the  Lord  has  done.  To  that 
conclusion  God  will  have  us  all  come  ;  we  must  all  confess  that  if  saved 
it  is  by  his  free,  rich,  sovereign,  undeserved  grace  displayed  in  the  persou 
of  his  dear  Sou. 


598  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE  PULPIT. 

IV.  Allow  me  one  moment  upon  the  fourth  head,  which  is  the  curb 
EFFECTED.  We  are  told  in  the  text  that  "if  a  serpent  had  biFteri  any 
man,  ivhen  he  beheld  the  serpent  of  brass,  he  lived ; "  that  is  to  say,  he  ivas 
healed  at  once.  He  had  not  to  wait  five  minutes,  nor  five  seconds.  Dear 
hearer,  did  you  ever  hear  this  before  ?  If  you  have  not,  it  may  startle  you, 
but  it  is  true.  If  you  have  lived  in  the  blackest  sin  that  is  possible  up 
to  this  very  moment,  yet  if  you  will  now  believe  in  Jesus  Christ  you  shall 
be  saved  before  the  clock  ticks  another  time.  It  is  done  like  a  flash  of 
lightning  ;  pardon  is  not  a  work  of  time.  Sanctification  needs  a  life- 
time, but  justification  needs  no  more  than  a  moment.  Thou  believest, 
thou  livest.  Thou  dost  trust  to  Christ,  thy  sins  are  gone,  thou  art  a 
saved  man  the  instant  thou  believest.  "Oh,"  saith  one,  "that  is  a 
wonder."  It  is  a  wonder,  and  will  remain  a  wonder  to  all  eternity.  Our 
Lord's  miracles  when  he  was  on  earth  were  mostly  instantaneous.  He 
touched  them  and  the  fevered  ones  were  able  to  sit  up  and  minister  to 
him.  No  doctor  can  cure  a  fever  in  that  fashion,  for  there  is  a  resultant 
weakness  left  after  the  heat  of  the  fever  is  abated.  Jesus  works  perfect 
cures,  and  whosoever  belicveth  in  him,  though  he  hath  only  believed  one 
minute,  is  justified  from  all  his  sins.     Oh  the  matchless  grace  of  God  ! 

This  reimdij  healed  again  and  again.  Very  possibly  after  a  man  had 
been  healed  he  might  go  back  to  his  work,  and  be  attacked  by  a  second 
serpent,  for  there  were  broods  of  them  about.  "What  had  he  to  do  ? 
AVhy,  to  look  again,  and  if  he  was  wounded  a  thousand  times  he  must 
look  a  thousand  times.  You,  dear  child  of  God,  if  you  have  sin  on  your 
conscience,  look  to  Jesus.  The  healthiest  way  of  living  where  serpents 
swarm  is  never  to  take  your  eye  ofi"  the  brazen  serpent  at  all.  Ah,  ye 
vipers,  ye  may  bite  if  ye  will ;  as  long  as  my  eye  is  upon  the  brazen  ser- 
pent I  defy  your  fangs  and  poison-bags,  for  I  have  a  continual  remedy 
at  work  ^vithin  me.  Temptation  is  overcome  by  the  blood  of  Jesus. 
"  This  is  the  victory  which  overcomcth  the  world,  even  our  fiiith." 

2'his  cure  was  of  universal  efficacy  to  all  ivho  used  it.  There  was  not 
one  case  in  all  the  camp  of  a  man  that  looked  to  the  serpent  of  brass  and 
jet  died,  and  there  never  will  be  a  case  of  a  man  that  looks  to  Jesus  who 
remains  under  condemnation.  The  believer  must  be  saved.  Some  of 
the  people  had  to  look  from  a  long  distance.  The  pole  could  not  be 
equally  near  to  everybody,  but  so  long  as  they  could  see  the  serpent  it 
healed  those  that  were  afar  off  as  well  as  those  who  were  nigh.  Nor  did 
it  matter  if  their  eyes  were  feeble.  All  eyes  were  not  alike  keen  ;  and 
some  may  lia\c  had  a  squint,  or  a  dimness  of  vision,  or  only  one  eye,  but 
if  they  did  but  look  they  lived.  Perhaps  the  man  could  hardly  make  out 
the  shape  of  the  serpent  as  he  looked.  "  Ah,"  he  said  to  himself,  "  I 
cannot  discern  the  coils  of  the  brazen  snake,  but  I  can  see  the  shining 
of  the  brass  ;  "  and  he  lived.  Oh,  poor  soul,  if  thou  canst  not  see  the 
Avhole  of  Christ  nor  all  his  beauties,  nor  all  the  riches  of  his  grace,  yet  if 
thou  canst  but  see  him  who  was  made  sin  for  us  thou  shalt  live.  If  thou 
gayest,  "  Lord,  I  believe ;  help  thou  mine  unbelief,"  thy  faith  will  save 
thee;  a  little  faith  will  give  thee  a  great  Christ,  and  thou  shalt  find 
eternal  life  in  him. 

Thus  I  have  tried  to  describe  the  cure.  Oh  that  the  Lord  vrould 
work  that  cure  in  every  sinner  here  at  this  mouient.     I  do  pray  he  may. 

it  is  a  pleasant  thought  that  if  they  looked  to  that  bruzeu  serpent  by 


KtJMfeER   l.SOO,  OR  LIJ'TING  UP  THE  BRAZEN  SERPENT.        599 

any  kind  of  light  they  lived.  Many  beheld  it  in  the  glare  of  noon,  and 
saw  its  shining  coils,  and  lived ;  but  I  should  not  wonder  that  some  were 
bitten  at  night,  and  by  the  moonhght  they  drew  near  and  looked  up  and 
lived.  Perhaps  it  was  a  dark  and  stormy  night,  and  not  a  star  was 
visible.  The  tempest  crashed  overhead,  and  from  the  murky  cloud  out 
flashed  the  lightning,  cleaving  the  rocks  asunder.  By  the  glare  of  that 
sudden  flame  the  dying  man  made  out  the  brazen  serpent,  and  though  he 
saw  but  for  a  moment  yet  he  lived.  So,  sinner,  if  your  soul  is  wrapped 
in  tempest,  and  if  from  out  the  cloud  there  comes  but  one  single  flash 
of  light,  look  to  Jesus  Christ  by  it  and  you  shall  live. 

V.  I  close  with  this  last  matter  of  consideration :  here  is  A  lesson 
FOR  THOSE  WHO  LOVE  THEIR  LoRD.  What  ought  wc  to  do  ?  We 
should  imitate  Moses,  whose  business  it  was  to  set  the  brazen  seipeut 
upon  a  pole.  It  is  your  business  and  mine  to  lift  up  the  gospel  of  Christ 
Jesus,  so  that  all  may  see  it.  All  Moses  had  to  do  was  to  hang  up  the 
brazen  serpent  in  the  sight  of  all.  He  did  not  say,  "  Aaron,  bring  your 
censer,  and  bring  with  you  a  score  of  priests,  and  make  a  perfumed  cloud." 
Nor  did  he  say,  "  I  myself  will  go  forth  in  my  robes  as  lawgiver,,  and 
stand  there."  No,  he  had  nothing  to  do  that  was  pompous  or  ceremonial, 
he  had  but  to  exhibit  the  brass  serpent  and  leave  it  naked  and  open  to 
the  gaze  of  all.  He  did  not  say,  "  Aaron,  bring  hither  a  cloth  of  gold, 
wrap  up  the  serpent  in  blue  and  scarlet  and  fine  linen."  Such  an  act 
would  have  been  clean  contrary  to  his  orders.  He  was  to  keep  the  ser- 
pent unveiled.  Its  power  lay  in  itself,  and  not  in  its  surroundings. 
The  Lord  did  not  tell  him  to  paint  the  pole,  or  to  deck  it  with  the 
colours  of  the  rainbow.  Oh,  no.  Any  pole  would  do.  The  dying  ones 
did  not  want  to  see  the  pole,  they  only  needed  to  behold  the  serpent.  I 
dare  say  he  would  make  a  neat  pole,  for  God's  work  should  be  done 
decently,  but  still  the  serpent  was  the  sole  thing  to  look  at.  This  is 
what  we  have  to  do  with  our  Lord.  We  must  preach  him,  teach  Mm, 
and  make  him  visible  to  all.  We  must  not  conceal  him  by  our  attempts 
at  eloquence  and  learning.  We  must  have  done  with  the  polished  lance- 
wood  pole  of  fine  speech,  and  those  bits  of  scarlet  and  blue,  in  the  form 
of  grand  sentences  and  poetic  periods.  Everything  must  be  done  that 
Christ  may  be  seen,  and  nothing  must  be  allowed  which  hides  him. 
Moses  may  go  home  and  go  to  bed  when  the  serpent  is  once  uplifted. 
All  that  is  wanted  is  that  the  brazen  serpent  should  be  within  view  both 
by  day  and  night.  The  preacher  may  hide  himself,  so  that  nobody  may 
know  who  he  is,  for  if  he  has  set  forth  Christ  he  is  best  out  of  the  way. 

Now,  you  teachers,  teach  your  children  Jesus.  Show  them  Christ 
crucified.  Keep  Christ  before  them.  You  young  men  that  try  to  preach, 
do  not  attempt  to  do  it  grandly.  The  true  grandeur  of  preaching  is  for 
Christ  to  be  grandly  displayed  in  it.  No  other  grandeur  is  wanted. 
Keep  self  in  the  background,  but  set  forth  Jesus  Christ  among  the 
people,  evidently  crucified  among  them.  None  ,but  Jesus,  none  but 
Jesus.     Let  him  be  the  sum  and  substance  of  all  your  teaching. 

Some  of  you  have  looked  to  the  brazen  serpent,  I  know,  and  you  have 
been  healed,  but  what  have  you  done  with  the  brazen  serpent  since  ? 
You  have  not  come  forward  to  confess  your  faith  and  join  the  church. 
You  have  not  spoken  to  any  one  about  his  soul.  You  put  the  brazen 
eerpcnt  into  a  chest  and  hide  it  away.     Is  this  rigiit  y     Bring  it  out,  and 


coo  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE  PULPIT. 

set  it  on  a  pole.  Publish  Christ  and  his  salvation.  He  was  never  meant 
to  be  treated  as  a  curiosity  in  a  museum ;  he  is  intended  to  be  ex- 
hibited in  the  highways  that  those  who  are  sin-bitten  may  look  at  him. 
"  But,  I  have  no  proper  pole,"  says  one.  The  best  sort  of  pole  to 
exhibit  Christ  upon  is  a  high  one,  so  that  he  may  be  seen  the  further. 
Exalt  Jesus.  Speak  well  of  his  name.  I  do  not  know  any  other  virtue 
that  there  can  be  in  the  pole  but  its  height.  The  more  you  can  speak  in 
your  Lord's  praise,  the  higher  yon  can  lift  him  up  the  better,  but  for 
all  other  styles  of  speech  there  is  nothing  to  be  said.  Do  lift  Christ  up. 
"  Oh,"  says  one,  "but  I  have  not  a  long  standard."  Then  lift  him  np 
on  such  as  you  have,  for  there  are  short  people  about  who  will  be 
able  to  see  by  your  means.  I  think  I  told  you  once  of  a  picture 
which  I  saw  of  the  brazen  serpent.  I  want  the  Sunday-school  teachers 
to  listen  to  this.  The  artist  represented  all  sorts  of  people  clustering 
round  the  pole,  and  as  they  looked  the  horrible  snakes  dropped  oft*  their 
arms,  and  they  lived.  There  was  such  a  crowd  around  the  pole  that 
a  mother  could  not  get  near  it.  She  carried  a  little  babe,  which  a 
serpent  had  bitten.  You  could  see  the  blue  marks  of  the  venom. 
As  she  could  get  no  nearer,  the  mother  held  her  cliild  aloft,  and  turned 
its  little  head  that  it  might  gaze  with  its  infant  eye  upon  the  brazen 
serpent  and  live.  Do  this  with  your  little  children,  you  Sunday-school 
teachers.  Even  while  they  are  yet  httle,  pray  that  they  may  look  to 
Jesus  Christ  and  live ;  for  there  is  no  bound  set  to  their  age.  Old  men 
snake-bitten  came  hobbling  on  their  crutches.  "  Eighty  years  old  am 
I,"  saith  one,  "but  I  have  looked  to  the  brazen  serpent,  and  I  am 
healed."  Little  boys  were  brought  out  by  their  mothers,  though  as 
yet  they  could  hardly  speak  plainly,  and  they  cried  in  child  language, 
"I  look  at  the  great  snake  and  it  bless  me."  All  ranks,  and 
eexes,  and  characters,  and  dispositions  looked  and  lived.  AVho  will 
look  to  Jesus  at  this  good  hour  ?  0  dear  souls,  will  you  have  life  or 
no  ?  Will  you  despise  Christ  and  perish  ?  If  so,  your  blood  be  on  your 
own  skirts.  I  have  told  you  God's  way  of  salvation,  lay  hold  on  it. 
Look  to  Jesus  at  once.    May  his  Spirit  gently  lead  you  so  to  do.  Amen. 


Portions  of  Scripture  read  before  Sermon — Numbers  xxi. 
4—9  ;  John  iii.  1—18. 


Hymks  from  "Our  Own  Hymn  Book"— 2i0,  530,  331. 


I  sliouid  be  greatly  rejoiced  if  tLis  sermon  could  be  widely  dislribiited.  1 
li-avc  requested  Messrs.  Passniore  and  Alabaster  to  republish  it  in  book  form. 
It  cun  be  Lud  at  one  penny  a  copy,  or  Gs.  per  hundred.— C  II.  S 


THE  GREAT  ARBITRATION  CAS]'}. 

BY 

C.  H.  SPURGEON, 

AT  THE  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE,   NEWINGTON.  < 

**  Neither  is  there  any  d&ysman  betwixt  ns,  that  might  lay  his  hand  upon  us  both." 

Job  ix.  33. 

The  patriarch  Job,  when  reasoning  with  the  Lord  concerning  his 
great  affliction,  felt  himself  to  be  at  a  disadvantage  and  declined  the 
controversy,  saying,  •'  He  is  not  a  man,  as  I  am,  that  I  should  answer 
him,  and  we  should  come  together  in  judgment."  Yet  feeling  that  his 
friends  were  cruelly  mis-stating  his  case,  he  still  desired  to  spread  it 
before  the  Lord,  but  wished  for  a  mediator,  a  middleman,  to  act  as 
umpire  and  decide  the  case.  In  his  mournful  plight  he  sighed  for  an 
arbitrator  who,  while  dealing  justly  for  God,  would  at  the  same  time 
deal  kindly  with  poor  flesh  and  blood,  being  able  to  lay  his  hand 
upon  both.  But,  dear  friends,  what  Job  desired  to  have,  the  Lord  has 
provided  for  us  in  the  person  of  his  own  dear  Son,  Jesus  Christ.  We 
cannot  say  with  Job  that  there  is  no  daysman  who  can  lay  his  hand  upon 
both,  because  there  is  now  "  one  Mediator  between  God  and  man,  the 
man  Christ  Jesus."  In  him  let  us  rejoice,  if  indeed  we  have  an  interest 
in  him;  and  if  we  have  not  yet  received  him,  may  almighty  grace  bring 
us  even  now  to  accept  him  as  our  advocate  and  friend. 

There  is  an  old  quarrel  between  the  thrice  holy  God  and  his  sinful 
subjects,  the  sons  of  Adam.  Man  has  sinned;  he  has  broken  God's  law 
in  every  part  of  it,  and  has  wantonly  cast  off  from  him  the  allegiance 
which  was  due  to  his  Maker  and  his  King.  There  is  a  suit  against  man, 
which  was  formally  instituted  at  Sinai  and  must  be  pleaded  in  the  Court 
of  King's  Bench,  before  the  Judge  of  quick  and  dead.  God  is  the  great 
plaintiff  against  his  sinful  creatures  who  are  the  defendants.  If  that 
suit  be  carried  into  court,  it  must  go  against  the  sinner.  There  is  no 
hope  whatever  that  at  the  last  tremendous  day  any  sinner  will  be  able 
to  stand  in  judgment  if  he  shall  leave  the  matter  of  his  debts  and 
obligations  towards  his  God  unsettled  until  that  dreadful  hour.  Sinner, 
it  would  be  well  for  thee  to  "  agree  with  thine  adversary  quickly,  whiles 
thou  art  in  the  way,"  for  if  thou  be  once  delivered  up  to  the  great 
Judge  of  all  the  earth,  there  is  not  the  slightest  hope  that  thy  suit  can 
be  decided  otherwise  than  to  thine  eternal  ruin.  "Weeping,  and 
wailmg,  and  gnashing  of  teeth,"  will  be  the  doom  adjudged  thee  for 
ever,  if  thy  case  as  before  the  living  God  shall  ever  come  to  be  tried  at 

No.  661. 


65C  METROPOLITAN  TAGEUNACLE  PULPIT. 

the  fiery  throne  of  absolute  justice.  But  the  infinite  grace  of  God 
proposes  an  arbitration,  and  I  trust  there  are  many  here  who  are  not 
anxious  to  have  their  suit  carried  into  court,  but  are  willing  that  the 
appointed  daysman  should  stand  betwixt  them  and  God,  and  lay  his 
band  upon  both,  and  propose  and  carry  out  a  plan  of  reconciliation. 
There  is  hope  for  thee,  thou  bankrupt  sinner,  that  thou  mayest  yet  be 
at  peace  with  God.  There  is  a  way  by  which  thy  debts  may  yet  be 
paid;  that  way  is  a  blessed  arbitration  in  which  Jesus  Christ  shall  stand 
as  the  daysman. 

Let  me  begin  by  describing  the  essentials  of  an  arbilrator,  or  days- 
man; then  let  me  take  you  mfo  the  arbitrator's  court  and  show  you  his 
proceedings ;  and  then  for  a  little  time,  if  there  be  space  enough,  let  us 
dwell  upon  the  happy  success  of  our  great  Daysman. 

I.    First  of  all,  let  me  describe  what  are  the^ essentials  of  an 

UMPIRE,  AN  arbitrator,   OR  A  DAYSMAN. 

The  first  essential  is,  that  both  parties  should  be  agreed  to  accept  him. 
Let  me  come  to  thee,  thou  sinner,  against  whom  God  has  laid  his  suit, 
and  put  the  matter  to  thee.  God  has  accepted  Christ  Jesus  to  be  his 
umpire  in  his  dispute.  He  appointed  him  to  the  office,  and  chose  him 
for  it  before  he  laid  the  foundations  of  the  world.  He  is  God's  fellow, 
equal  with  the  Most  High,  and  can  put  his  hand  upon  the  Eternal 
Father  without  fear,  because  he  is  dearly  beloved  of  that  Father's  heart. 
He  is  "  very  God  of  very  God,"  and  is  in  no  respect  inferior  to  "  God 
over  all,  blessed  for  ever."  But  he  is  also  a  man  like  thyself,  sinner.  He 
once  suffered,  hungered,  thirsted,  and  knew  the  meaning  of  poverty  and 
pain.  Nay,  he  went  farther,  he  was  tempted  as  thou  hast  been,  and 
farther  still,  he  suffered  the  pangs  of  death,  as  thou  poor  mortal  man 
wilt  one  day  have  to  do.  Now,  what  thinkest  thou?  God  has  accepted 
him;  canst  thou  agree  with  God  in  this  matter,  and  agree  to  take  Christ 
to  be  thy  daysman  too?  Does  foolish  enmity  possess  thee,  or  does 
grace  reign  and  lead  thee  to  accept  Emmanuel,  God  with  us,  as  umpire 
in  this  great  dispute?  Let  me  say  to  thee  that  thou  wilt  never  find 
another  so  near  akin  to  thee,  so  tender,  so  sympathetic,  with  such 
bowels  of  compassion  towards  thee.  Love  streamed  from  his  eyes  in 
life,  and  poured  from  his  wounds  in  death.  He  is"  the  express  image" 
of  Jehovah's  person,  and  you  know  that  Jehovah's  name  is  "  Love." 
"God  is  love,"  and  Christ  is  love.  Sinner,  has  divine  grace  brought 
thee  to  thy  senses?  Wilt  thou  accept  Christ  now?  Art  thou  willing 
that  he  should  take  this  case  into  his  hands  and  arbitrate  between  thee 
and  God?  for  if  God  accepteth  him,  and  thou  accept  him  too,  then  he 
has  one  of  the  first  qualifications  for  being  a  daysman. 

But,  in  the  next  place,  both  parties  must  be  fully  agreed  to  leave  tliA 
case  entirely  in  the  arbitrator's  hands.  If  the  arbitrator  does  not  possess 
the  power  of  settling  the  case,  then  pleading  before  him  is  only  making 
tin  opportunity  for  wrangling,  without  any  chance  of  coming  to  a  peaceful 
Bettlement.  Now  God  has  committed  "all  power"  into  the  hands  of 
his  Son.  Jesus  Christ  is  the  plenipotentiary  of  God,  and  has  been 
invested  with  full  ambassadorial  ])owers.  He  comes  commissioned  by 
liis  Father,  and  he  can  say  in  all  that  he  does  towards  sinners,  that  his 
Father's  heart  is  witli  him.  If  the  case  be  settled  by  him,  the  Father 
is  agreed.    Now,  sinner,  does  grace  move  thy  heart  to  do  the  same? 


THE  GREAT  ARBITRATION  CASE.  GSl 

Wilt  thou  agree  to  put  thy  case  into  the  hands  of  Jesus  Christ,  the 
Son  of  God  and  the  Son  of  Man?  Wilt  thou  abide  by  his  decision? 
Wilt  thou  have  it  settled  according  to  his  judgment,  and  shall  the 
verdict  which  he  gives  stand  absolute  and  fast  with  thee  ?  If  so,  then 
Christ  has  another  essential  of  an  arbitrator;  but  if  not,  remember, 
though  he  may  make  peace  for  others,  he  will  never  make  peace  for  thee; 
for  this  know,  that  until  the  grace  of  God  has  made  thee  willing  to  trust 
the  case  in  Jesu's  hands,  there  can  be  no  peace  for  thee,  and  thou  art 
wilfully  remaining  God's  enemy  by  refusing  to  accept  his  dear  Son. 

Further,  let  us  say,  that  to  make  a  good  arbitrator  or  umpire,  it  is 
essential  that  he  be  a  Jit  person.  If  the  case  were  between  a  king  and  a 
beggar,  it  would  not  seem  exactly  right  that  another  king  should  be  the 
arbitrator,  nor  another  beggar;  but  if  there  could  be  found  a  person 
who  combined  the  two,  who  was  both  prince  and  beggar,  then  such  a 
man  could  be  selected  by  both.  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  precisely 
meets  the  case.  There  is  a  very  great  disparity  between  the  plaintiff  and 
the  defendant,  for  how  great  is  the  gulf  which  exists  between  the  eternal 
God  and  poor  fallen  man!  How  is  this  to  be  bridged?  Why  by  none 
except  by  one  who  is  God  and  who  at  the  same  time  can  become 
man.  Now  the  only  being  who  can  do  this  is  Jesus  Christ.  He  can  put 
his  hand  on  thee,  stooping  down  to  all  thine  inJSrmity  and  thy  sorrow, 
and  he  can  put  his  other  hand  upon  the  Eternal  Majesty,  and  claim  to 
be  co-equal  with  God  and  co-eternal  with  the  Father.  Dost  thou  not 
see,  then,  his  fitness?  Surely  it  were  the  path  of  wisdom,  sinner,  to 
accept  him  at  once  as  the  arbitrator  in  the  case.  See  how  well  he 
understands  it!  I  should  not  do  to  be  an  arbitrator  in  legal  cases, 
because,  though  I  should  be  anxious  to  do  justice,  yet  I  should  know 
nothing  of  the  law  of  the  case.  But  Christ  knows  your  case,  and  the 
law  concerning  it,  because  he  has  lived  among  men,  and  has  passed 
through  and  suffered  the  penalties  of  justice.  There  cannot  surely  be  a 
better  skilled  or  more  judicious  daysman  than  our  blessed  Redeemer. 

Yet  there  is  one  more  essential  of  an  umpire,  and  that  is,  that  lie 
should  be  a  person  desirous  to  bring  the  case  to  a  happy  settlement.  If  you 
appoint  a  quarrelsome  arbitrator,  he  may  delight  to  "  set  dogs  by  the 
ears;"  but  if  you  elect  one  who  is  anxious  for  the  good  of  both,  and 
wishes  to  make  both  friends,  then  he  is  just  the  very  man,  though,  to 
be  sure,  he  would  be  a  man  of  a  thousand,  very  precious  when  found, 
but  very  hard  to  discover.  Oh  that  all  law-suits  could  be  decided 
by  such  men.  In  the  great  case  which  is  pending  between  God 
and  the  sinner,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  a  sincere  anxiety  both 
for  his  Father's  glory  and  for  the  sinner's  welfare,  and  that  there 
should  be  peace  between  the  two  contending  parties.  It  is  the  life  and 
aim  of  Jesus  Christ  to  make  peace.  He  delighteth  not  in  the  death  of 
sinners,  and  he  knows  no  joy  greater  than  that  of  receiving  prodigals  to 
his  bosom,  and  of  bringing  lost  sheep  back  again  to  the  fold.  You 
cannot  tell  how  high  the  Saviour's  bosom  swells  with  an  intense  desire 
to  make  to  himself  a  great  name  as  a  peace-maker.  Never  had  warrior 
Buch  ambition  to  make  war  and  to  win  yictories  therein,  as  Christ  has 
to  end  war,  and  to  win  thereby  the  bloodless  triumplis  of  peace.  From 
the  heights  of  heaven  he  came  leaping  like  a  young  roe  down  to  the 
plains  of  earth.    From  earth  he  leaped  into  the  depths  of  the  grave j 


f59  METROPOLITAN   TABERNACLE  PULPIT. 

Mien  up  again  at  a  bound  he  sprang  to  earth,  and  up  again  to  heaven ; 
and  still  he  resteth  not,  but  presseth  on  in  his  mighty  work  to  iagather 
sinners,  and  to  reconcile  them  unto  God;  making  himself  a  propitiation 
for  their  sins. 

Thou  seest  then,  sinner,  how  the  case  is.  God  has  evidently  chosen 
the  most  fitting  arbitrator.  That  arbitrator  is  willing  to  undertake  the 
case,  and  thou  mayest  well  repose  all  confidence  in  him;  but  and  if 
thou  shalt  live  and  die  without  accepting  him  as  thine  arbitrator,  then, 
the  case  going  against  thee,  thou  wilt  have  none  to  blame  but  thyself. 
When  the  everlasting  damages  shall  be  assessed  against  thee  in  thy 
Koul  and  body  for  ever,  thou  shalt  have  to  curse  only  thine  own  folly 
for  having  been  the  cause  of  thy  ruin.  May  I  ask  you  to  speak  candidly? 
Has  the  Holy  Ghost  so  turned  the  natural  bent  and  current  of  your 
will,  that  you  have  chosen  him  because  he  has  first  chosen  you?  Do 
you  feel  that  Christ  this  day  is  standing  before  God  for  you?  He  is 
God's  anointed;  is  he  your  elected?  God's  choice  pitches  upon  him, 
docs  your  choice  agree  therewith?  Remember,  where  there  is  no  will 
towards  Christ,  Christ  as  yet  exercises  no  saving  power.  Christ  saves 
no  sinner  who  lives  and  dies  unwilling.  He  makes  unwilling  sinners 
willing  before  he  speaks  a  word  of  comfort  to  them.  It  is  the  mark  of 
our  election  as  his  people,  that  wo  are  made  willing  in  the  day  of  God's 
power.  Lay  your  hope  where  God  has  laid  your  help,  namely,  on  Christ, 
mighty  to  save.  You  cannot  have  an  arbitrator  except  both  sides  be 
agreed.  Dost  thou  say  ay,  ay,  with  all  my  soul  I  choose  liini?  Then 
let  us  proceed. 

IT.    And  now  I  shall  want,  by  your  leave,  to  take  you  into  the 

COURT  WHERE  THE  TRIAL  IS  GOING  ON,  AND  SHOW  YOU  THE  LEGAL 
PROCEEDINGS  BEFORE  THE  GREAT  DAYSMAN. 

"The  man,  Christ  Jesus,"  who  is  "God  over  all,  blessed  forever," 
opens  his  court  by  laying  down  the  principles  upon  tvhich  he  intends  to 
deliver  judgment,  and  those  principles  I  will  now  try  to  explain  and  ex- 
pound.  They  are  two-fold — first,  strict  justice;  and  secondly,  fervent  love. 

The  arbitrator  has  determined  that  let  the  case  go  as  it  may  there 
shall  he  full  justice  done,  justice  to  the  very  extreme,  whether  it  be  for 
or  against  the  defendant.  He  intends  to  take  the  law  in  its  sternest  and 
severest  aspect,  and  to  judge  according  to  its  strictest  letter.  He  will 
not  be  guilty  of  partiality  on  either  side.  If  the  law  says  that  the  sinner 
shall  die,  the  arbitrator  declares  that  he  will  judge  that  the  sinner  shall 
die;  and  if,  on  the  other  hand,  the  defendant  can  plead  and  prove  that 
lie  is  innocent,  he  intends  to  adjudge  to  him  the  award  of  innocence, 
namely  Eternal  Life.  If  the  sinner  can  prove  that  he  has  fairly 
won  it,  he  shall  have  his  due.  Either  way,  whether  it  be  in  favour  of 
the  plaintiff  or  of  the  defendant,  the  condition  of  judgment  is  to  be 
strict  justice. 

But  the  arbitrator  also  says  that  he  will  judge  according  to  the  second 
rule,  that  of  fervent  love.  He  loves  his  Father,  and  therefore  he  will 
decide  on  nothing  that  may  attaint  his  honour  or  disgrace  his  crown. 
He  so  loves  God,  the  Eternal  One,  that  he  will  suffer  heaven  and  earth 
to  pass  away  sooner  than  there  shall  be  one  blot  upon  the  character  of 
the  Most  High.  On  the  other  hand,  he  so  loves  the  poor  defendant, 
man,  that  he  will  be  willing  to  do  anything  rather  than  inflict  penalty 


THE  GREAT  ARBITRATION   CASE.  653 

upon  him  unless  justice  shall  absolutely  require  it.  lie  loves  man 
with  so  large  a  love  that  nothing  will  delight  him  more  than  to  decide 
in  his  favour,  and  he  will  be  but  too  glad  if  he  can  be  the  means  of 
happily  establishing  peace  between  the  two.  How  these  principles  are 
to  meet,  will  be  seen  by  and  by.  At  present  he  lays  them  down  very 
positively,  *'  He  that  ruleth  among  men  must  be  just."  An  arbitraton 
must  be  just ;  or  else  he  is  not  fit  to  hold  the  scales  in  any  suit.  Or 
the  other  hand,  he  must  be  tender ;  for  his  name,  as  God,  is  love  ;  and 
his  nature  as  man  is  gentleness  and  mercy.  Both  parties  should  dis- 
tinctly consent  to  these  principles.  How  can  they  do  otherwise.*  Do 
they  not  commend  themselves  to  all  of  you  ?  Let  justice  and  love  unite 
if  they  can. 

Having  thus  laid  down  the  principles  of  judgment,  the  arbitrator  next 
calls  upon  the  plaintiff  to  state  his  case.  Let  us  listen  while  the  great 
Creator  speaks:  may  God  give  me  grace  now  reverently  to  state  it  in 
his  name,  as  one  poor  sinner  stating  God's  case  against  us  all.  *'  Hear, 
0  heavens,  and  give  ear,  0  earth:  for  the  Lord  hath  spoken,  I  have 
nourished  and  brought  up  children,  and  they  have  rebelled  against  me. 
The  ox  knoweth  his  owner,  and  the  ass  his  master's  crib:  but  Israel 
doth  not  know,  my  people  doth  not  consider.  Ah  sinful  nation,  a 
people  laden  with  iniquity,  a  seed  of  evildoers,  children  that  are  cor- 
rupters: they  have  forsaken  the  Lord,  they  have  provoked  the  Holy 
One  of  Israel  unto  anger,  they  are  gone  away  backward."  The 
Eternal  God  charges  us,  and  let  me  confess  at  once  most  justly 
and  most  truly  charges  us,  with  having  broken  all  his  command- 
ments — some  of  them  in  act,  some  of  them  in  word,  all  of  them  in 
heart,  and  thought,  and  imagination.  He  charges  upon  us,  that  against 
light  and  knowledge  we  have  chosen  the  evil  and  forsaken  the  good; 
that  knowing  what  we  were  doing  we  have  turned  aside  fi'om  his 
most  righteous  law  and  have  gone  astray  like  lost  sheep,  following 
the  imaginations  and  devices  of  our  own  hearts.  The  great  Plaintiff 
claims  that  inasmuch  as  we  are  his  creatures  we  ought  to  have  obeyed 
him,  that  inasmuch  as  we  owe  our  very  lives  to  his  daily  care  we  ought 
to  have  rendered  him  service  instead  of  disobedience,  and  to  have  been 
his  loyal  subjects  instead  of  turning  traitors  to  his  throne.  All  this, 
calmly  and  dispassionately,  according  to  the  great  Book  of  the  law,  is 
laid  to  our  charge  before  the  Daysman.  No  exaggeration  of  sin  is  brought 
against  us.  It  is  simply  declared  of  us  that  the  whole  head  is  sick  and 
the  whole  heart  is  faint;  that  there  is  none  that  doeth  good,  no,  not  one; 
that  we  have  all  gone  out  of  the  way,  and  altogether  become  unprofit- 
able. This  is  God's  case.  He  says,  "  I  made  this  man ;  curiously  was 
he  wrought  in  the  lowest  parts  of  the  earth ;  and  all  his  members  bear 
traces  of  my  singular  handiwork.  I  made  him  for  my  honour,  and 
he  has  not  honoured  me.  I  created  him  for  my  service,  and  he  has  not 
served  me.  Twenty,  thirty,  forty,  fifty  years  I  have  kept  the  breath  in 
his  nostrils;  the  bread  he  has  eaten  has  been  the  daily  portion  of  my 
bounty;  his  garments  are  the  livery  of  my  charity;  and  all  this  while 
he  has  neither  thought  of  me,  his  Creator  and  Preserver,  nor  done 
anything  in  my  service.  He  has  served  his  family,  his  wife  and  children, 
but  his  Maker  he  has  despised.  He  has  served  his  country,  his  neigh- 
bours, the  borough  in  which  be  dwells;  but  I  who  made  hjm,  I  have 


iM  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE   PULPIT. 

had  nothing  from  him.  He  has  been  an  unprofitable  servant  unto  me." 
I  think  I  may  pat  the  plaintiff's  case  into  your  hands.  "Which  of  you 
would  keep  a  horse,  and  that  horse  should  yield  you  no  obedience  ? 
What  excuse  is  it  that  though  I  might  not  use  him  he  would  carry 
another?  Nay,  the  case  is  worse  than  this.  Not  only  has  man  done 
nothing,  but  worse  than  nothing.  Which  of  you  would  keep  a  dog, 
wliich,  instead  of  fawning  upon  you,  would  bark  at  you — fly  at  you,  and 
tear  you  in  his  rage?  Some  of  us  have  done  this  to  God;  we  have 
perhaps  cursed  him  to  his  face;  we  have  broken  his  sabbaths,  laughed 
at  his  gospel,  and  persecuted  his  saints.  You  would  have  said  of 
such  a  dog,  let  it  die.  Wherefore  should  I  harbour  in  my  house  a  dog 
that  treats  me  thus?  Yet,  hear,  0  heavens;  and  give  ear,  0  earth; 
God  has  borne  with  your  ill  manners,  and  he  still  cries  "forbear." 
He  puts  the  lifted  thunder  back  into  the  arsenal  of  his  dread  artillery. 
I  wish  I  could  state  the  case  as  I  oughti.  My  lips  are  but  clay;  and 
these  words  should  be  like  fire  in  the  sinner's  soul.  When  I  meditated 
upon  this  subject  alone,  I  felt  much  sympathy  with  God,  that  he  should 
have  been  so  ill  treated;  and  whereas  some  men  speak  of  the  flames  of 
hell  as  too  great  a  punishment  for  sin,  it  seems  ten  thousand  marvels 
that  we  should  not  have  been  thrust  down  there  lonp'  ago. 

The  plaintiff's  case  having  thus  been  stated  the  defendant  is  called  upon 
ly  the  Daysman  for  Ms;  and  I  think  I  hear  him  as  he  begins.  First  of 
all  the  trembling  defendant  sinner  pleads — **  /  confess  to  the  indictment, 
hut  I  say  I  could  not  help  it.  1  have  sinned,  it  is  true,  but  my  natun 
was  such  that  I  could  not  luell  do  otlierivise  ;  I  must  lay  all  the  blame  of 
it  to  my  own  heart :  my  heart  ivas  deceitful  and  my  nature  ivas  evil." 
The  Daysman  at  once  rules  that  this  is  no  excuse  whatever,  but  an 
aggravation,  for  inasmuch  as  it  is  conceded  that  the  man's  heart  itself 
is  enmity  against  God,  this  in  an  admission  of  yet  greater  malice  and 
blacker  rebellion.  It  was  only  alleged  against  the  offender  in  the  first 
place  that  he  had  outwardly  offended;  but  he  acknowledges  that  he 
does  it  inwardly,  and  confesses  that  his  very  heart  is  traitorous  against 
God,  and  is  fully  set  upon  working  the  King's  damage  and  dishonour. 
It  is  determined,  therefore,  by  the  Daysman  that  this  e::cuse  will  not 
stand,  and  he  gives  a  case  in  point: — a  thief  is  brought  up  for  stealing, 
and  he  pleads  that  his  heart  was  thievish,  that  he  felt  a  constant  inclin- 
ation to  steal,  and  that  therefore  he  could  not  help  running  off  with 
any  goods  within  his  reach.  The  judge  very  properly  answers,  "  Then 
I  shall  give  you  twice  as  much  penalty  as  any  other  man  who  only  fell 
into  the  fault  by  surprise,  for  according  to  your  own  confession,  you  are 
a  thief  through  and  through;  what  you  have  said  is  not  an  excuse,  but 
an  aggravation." 

Then  the  defendant  pleads  in  the  next  place  that  albeit  he  acknowledges 
the  facts  alleged  against  him,  yet  he  is  no  worse  iJian  other  offenders, 
and  that  there  are  many  in  the  world  who  have  sinned  more  grievously 
than  he  has  done.  He  says  he  has  been  envious,  and  angry,  and  worldly, 
and  covetous,  and  has  forgotten  God;  but  then  he  never  was  an 
adulterer,  or  a  thief,  or  a  drunkard,  or  a  blasphemer,  and  he  pleads  that 
his  lesser  crimes  may  well  be  winked  at.  But  the  great  Daysman  at 
once  turns  to  the  Statute  Book,  and  says  that  as  he  is  about  to  give  his 
decision  by  law  that  plea  is  not  at  all  tenable,  lor  the  law  book  has  it— 


THE  GREAT  ARBITRATION  CA8B.  655 

"  Cursed  is  eveiyman  that  continueth  not  in  all  things  that  aie  written 
in  the  book  of  the  law  to  do  them."  The  offence  of  one  sinner  doth  not 
excuse  the  offence  of  another;  and  the  arbitrator  declares  that  he  cannot 
mix  up  other  cases  with  the  case  now  in  hand;  that  the  present 
offender  has  on  his  own  confession  broken  the  law,  and  that  as  the  law 
book  stands  that  is  the  only  question  to  be  decided,  for  "  the  soul  that 
sinneth  it  shall  die,"  and  if  the  defendent  has  no  better  plea  to  offer, 
judgment  must  go  against  him. 

The  sinner  urges  further,  that  though  he  has  offended,  and  offended 
very  greatly  and  grievously,  yet  he  has  done  a  great  many  good  things. 
It  is  true  he  did  not  love  God,  but  he  always  went  to  chapel.  It 
is  true  he  did  not  pray,  but  still  he  belonged  to  a  singing-class.  It 
is  quite  correct  that  he  did  not  love  his  neighbour  as  himself,  but 
he  always  liked  to  relieve  the  poor.  But  the  Daysman,  looking  the 
sinner  full  in  the  face,  tells  him  that  this  plea  also  is  bad,  for  the 
alleged  commission  of  some  acts  of  loyalty  will  not  make  compensation 
for  avowed  acts  of  treason.  "Those  things,"  saith  he,  " ye  ought  to 
have  done,  but  not  to  have  left  the  others  undone;"  and  he  tells  the 
sinner,  with  all  kindness  and  gentleness,  that  straining  at  a  gnat  doea 
not  exonerate  him  for  having  swallowed  a  camel ;  and  that  having 
tithed  mint,  and  anise,  and  cummin,  is  no  justification  for  having  de- 
voured a  widow's  house.  To  have  forgotten  God  is  in  itself  a  great 
enormity;  to  have  lived  without  serving  him  is  a  crime  of  omission  so 
great,  that  whatever  the  sinner  may  have  done  on  the  contra,  stands  for 
nothing  at  all,  since  he  has  even  then  in  that  case  done  only  what  he 
ought  to  have  done.  You  see  at  once  the  justice  of  this  decision. 
If  any  of  you  were  to  say  to  your  grocer,  or  tailor,  when  they  send 
in  their  bills,  "  Well,  now,  you  ought  not  to  ask  for  payment  of  that 
account,  because  I  did  pay  you  another  bill — you  ought  not  to  ask  me 
to  pay  for  that  suit  of  clothes,  because  I  did  pay  you  for  another  suit;" 
I  think  the  answer  would  be,  "  But  in  paying  for  what  you  had  before, 
you  only  did  what  you  ought  to  do;  but  I  still  have  a  demand  upon 
you  for  this."  So  all  the  good  deeds  you  have  ever  done  are  only  debts 
discharged  which  were  most  fully  due,  (supposing  them  to  be  good  deeds, 
which  is  very  questionable)  and  they  leave  the  great  debt  still  untouched. 

The  defendant  has  no  end  of  pleas,  for  the  sinner  has  a  thousand 
excuses;  and  finding  that  nothing  else  will  do,  he  begins  to  appeal  to 
the  mercy  of  the  plaintiff,  and  says  that  for  the  future  he  will  do  better. 
He  confesses  that  he  is  in  debt,  but  he  will  run  up  no  more  bills  at  that 
shop.  He  acknowledges  that  he  has  offended,  but  he  vows  he  will  not 
do  so  again.  He  is  quite  sure  that  the  future  shall  be  as  free  from 
fault  as  angels  are  from  sin.  Though  it  is  true  that  he  just  now  said 
his  heart  was  bad,  still  he  feels  inclined  to  think  that  it  is  not  so  very 
bad  after  all ;  he  is  conceited  enough  to  think  that  he  can  in  the  future 
keep  himself  from  committing  sin;  thereby,  you  see,  admitting  the 
worthlessness  of  his  former  plea  on  which  he  relied  so  much  "  Now," 
he  says,  "  if  for  life  I  become  a  teetotaller,  then  surely  I  may  be  ex- 
cused for  having  been  a  drunkard;  suppose  now  that  I  am  always 
honest  and  steady,  and  never  again  say  one  ill  word,  will  not  that 
exonerate  me  from  all  my  wrong-doings,  and  for  having  blasphemed 
Go(i?"    5ut  thQ  Daysman  rules,  stiU  with  kindness  and  gentleness, 


G&^  METROPOLITAN  TABF.RXACLE   PULriT. 

that  the  frreatest  imaginable  virtue  in  the  futui-e  will  be  no  recompense 
for  the  sin  of  the  past;  for  he  finds  in  the  lawbook  no  promise  what- 
ever made  to  that  effect:  bnt  the  statute  runs  in  these  words,  "  He  will 
by  no  means  spare  the  guilty;"  "Cursed  is  every  one  that  continueth 
not  in  all  things  which  are  written  in  the  book  of  the  law  to  do  them." 

You  would  think  that  the  defendant  would  now  be  fairly  beaten,  but 
he  is  not:  he  asks  leave  to  step  across  the  way  lo  Iriny  in  a  friend  of 
his.  He  is  allowed  to  do  so,  and  comes  back  with  a  gentleman  dressed  in 
such  a  queer  style,  that,  if  you  had  not  sometimes  seen  the  like  in  certain 
Puseyite  Churches,  you  would  suppose  him  to  have  arrayed  himself  for 
the  mere  purpose  of  amusing  children  at  a  show,  where  a  merry-audrew 
is  the  presiding  genius.  The  defendant  seems  to  imagine  that  if  the 
case  be  left  to  this  gentleman  in  the  white  shirt  and  ribbons,  he  will 
settle  it  with  ease.  He  has  with  him  a  little  bottle  of  water,  by  which 
he  can  turn  hearts  of  stone  into  flesh,  making  heirs  of  wrath  into 
♦'  members  of  Christ,  children  of  God,  and  inheritors  of  the  kingdom 
of  heaven."  He  has  a  certain  portion  of  mystical  bread,  and  magical 
wine,  the  reception  with  which  he  can  work  wonderful  ti-ansformation, 
producing  flesh  and  blood  therefrom  at  his  reverence's  will  and  pleasure. 
In  fact,  this  gentleman  trades  and  gets  his  living  by  the  prosecution  of 
magic.  He  has  occult  influences  streaming  from  his  fiugers,  which 
influences  he  derived  originally  from  a  gentleman  in  lawn;  and  he  now 
pretends  to  have  ability  derived  from  the  apostles,  most  probably  from 
Judas,  by  marvellous  manipulations — how  I  cannot  tell  you,  but  by  a 
kind  of  sleight  of  hand— to  settle  the  case.  But  the  Daysman,  with 
a  frown,  hurls  a  thunderbolt  from  his  hand  against  the  impudent 
impostor,  and  bids  him  take  himself  away,  and  not  again  deceive  poor 
sinners  with  his  vain  pretensions.  He  warns  the  defendant  that  the 
priest  is  an  arrant  knave,  that  whatever  professions  he  may  maliC  of 
being  a  "successor  of  the  apostles,"  he  knows  nothing  about  apostolical 
doctrine,  or  else  he  would  not  have  intruded  his  sinful,  silly  self, 
between  men's  souls  and  God.  He  bids  him  advise  the  man  to  dress 
himself  like  a  person  in  his  right  mind,  who  was  about  honest  work, 
and  not  as  a  necromancer  or  priest  of  Baal,  and  give  himself  to  preaching 
the  gospel,  instead  of  propagating  the  superstitious  inventions  of  Rome. 
_  What  is  the  poor  defendant  to  do  now?  He  is  fairly  beaten  this 
time.  He  falls  down  on  his  knees,  and  with  many  tears  and  lamenta- 
tions he  cries,  "I  see  how  the  case  stands;  I  Mm  nothing  to  plead,  but 
I  appeal  to  the  mercy  of  tfie  plaintiff;  I  confess  that  I  have  broken  his 
commandments;  I  acknowledge  that  I  deserve  his  wrath;  but  I  havt 
heard  that  he  is  merciful,  and  I  plead  for  free  and  full  forgiveness." 

And  now  comes  another  scene.  The  plaintiff  seeing  the  sinner  on 
his  knees,  with  his  eyes  full  of  tears,  makes  this  reply,  "  I  am  willing 
at  all  times  to  deal  kindly  and  according  to  lovingkindness  with  all  my 
creatures;  but  will  the  arbitrator  for  a  moment  suggest  that  I  should 
damage  and  ruin  my  own  perfections  of  truth  and  holiness;  that  I 
should  belie  my  own  word;  that  I  should  imperil  my  own  throne;  that 
I  should  make  the  purity  of  immaculate  justice  to  be  suspected,  and 
siiould  bring  down  the  glory  of  my  unsullied  holiness,  because  this 
creature  has  offended  me,  and  now  craves  for  mercy?  I  cannot,  I  will 
Qot  spare  the  guilty;  fie  has  offended,  and  he  vmst  di^!    'As  I  live,  I 


THE  GREAT  ARBITRATION  CASE.  657 

have  no  pleasure  in  the  death  of  the  wicked,  but  would  rather  that  he 
should  turn  from  his  wickedness  and  live.'  Still,  this  '  would  rather* 
must  not  be  supreme.  I  am  gracious  and  would  spare  the  sinner,  but  1 
am  just,  and  must  not  unsay  my  own  words.  I  swore  with  an  oath, 
•  The  soul  that  sinneth  shall  die.'  I  have  laid  it  down  as  a  matter  of 
firm  decree,  '  Cursed  is  every  one  that  continueth  not  in  all  things  which 
are  written  in  the  book  of  the  law  to  do  them.'  This  sinner  is  right- 
eously cursed,  and  he  must  inevitably  die;  and  yet  I  love  him.  How 
can  I  give  thee  up,  Ephraim?  how  can  I  make  thee  as  Admah?  How 
can  I  set  thee  as  Zeboim?  And  yet,  how  can  I  put  thee  among  the 
children?  Would  it  not  be  a  worse  calamity  that  I  should  be  unjust 
than  that  earth  should  lose  its  inhabitants?  Better  all  men  perish, 
than  that  the  universe  should  lose  the  justice  of  God  as  its  stay  and 
shield."  The  arbitrator  bows  and  says,  "Even  so;  justice  demands  that 
the  offender  should  die,  and  I  would  not  have  thee  unjust." 

What  more  does  the  arbitrator  say?  He  sits  still,  and  the  ease  is  in 
suspense.  There  stands  the  just  and  holy  God,  willing  to  forgive  if  it 
can  be  done  without  injury  to  the  immutable  principles  of  right. 
There  sits  the  arbitrator,  looking  with  eyes  of  love  upon  the  poor, 
weeping,  trembling  sinner,  and  anxious  to  devise  a  plan  to  save  him, 
but  conscious  that  that  plan  must  not  infringe  upon  divine  justice;  for 
it  were  a  worse  cruelty  to  injure  divine  perfections  than  it  were  to 
destroy  the  whole  human  race.  The  arbitrator,  therefore,  after  pausing 
awhile,  puts  it  thus:  "  I  am  anxious  that  these  two  should  be  brought 
together;  I  love  them  both:  I  cannot,  on  the  one  hand,  recommend 
that  my  Father  should  stain  his  honour;  I  cannot,  on  the  other  hand, 
endure  that  this  sinner  should  be  cast  eternally  into  hell;  I  will 
decide  the  case,  and  it  shall  be  thus:  1  will  pay  my  Father's  justice 
all  it  craves;  I  pledge  myself  that  in  the  fulness  of  time  I  toill  suffer 
in  my  own  proper  person  all  that  the  weeping,  tremblitig  sinner  ought 
to  have  suffered.  My  Father,  wilt  thou  stand  to  this?"  The  eternal 
God  accepts  the  awful  sacrifroe!  What  say  you,  sinner,  what  say  you? 
Why,  methinks  you  cannot  have  two  opinions.  If  you  are  sane — and 
may  God  make  you  sane — you  will  melt  with  wonder.  You  will  say, 
"  I  could  not  have  thought  this!  I  never  called  in  a  daysman  with  an 
expectation  of  this!  /have  sinned,  and  ^e declares  that  he  will  suffer; 
/  am  guilty,  and  he  says  that  he  will  be  punished  for  me!" 

Yes,  sinner,  and  he  did  more  than  say  it,  for  when  the  fulness  of 
time  came — you  know  the  story.  The  officers  of  justice  served  him 
with  the  writ,  and  he  was  taken  from  his  knees  in  the  garden  of  Geth- 
semane  away  to  the  court,  and  there  he  was  tried  and  condemned;  and 
you  know  how  his  back  was  scourged  till  the  white  bones  stood  like 
islands  of  ivory  in  the  midst  of  a  crimson  sea  of  gore;  you  know  how 
his  head  was  crowned  with  thorns,  and  his  cheeks  were  given  to  those 
who  plucked  off  the  hair!  Can  you  not  see  him  hounded  through  the 
streets  of  Jerusalem,  with  the  spittle  of  the  brutal  soldiery  still  upon 
his  unwashed  face,  and  his  wounds  all  unstanched  and  bleeding?  Can 
you  not  see  him  as  they  hurl  him  down  and  fasten  him  to  the  accursed 
tree? — then  they  lift  the  cross  and  dash  it  down  into  its  socket  in  the 
earth,  dislocating  every  bone,  tearing  every  nerve  and  sinew,  filling  his 
soul  as  full  of  agony  as  this  earth  is  full  of  sin,  or  the  depths  of  the  oceaq 


f^TtB  METROPOLITAN   TABERNACLE   PULPIT. 

filled  with  its  floods?  You  do  not  know,  however,  what  he  sufTered 
within.  Hell  held  carnival  within  his  heart.  Every  arrow  of  the  in- 
fernal pit  was  discharged  at  him,  and  heaven  itself  forsook  him.  The 
thunderbolts  of  vengeance  fell  upon  him,  and  his  Father  hid  his  face 
from  him  till  he  cried  in  his  agony,  "My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou 
forsaken  me? "  And  so  he  suffered  on,  and  on,  and  on,  till  "  It  ia 
finished  "  closed  the  scene. 

Here,  then,  is  the  arbitration.  Christ  himself  suffers;  and  now  I 
have  to  put  the  query,  "  Hast  thou  accepted  Christ?  "  0  dear  friend,  if 
thou  hast,  I  know  that  God  the  Holy  Ghost  has  made  thee  accept  him; 
but  if  thou  hast  not,  what  shall  I  call  thee?  I  will  not  upbraid  thee, 
but  my  heart  would  weep  over  thee.  How  canst  thou  be  so  mad  as  to 
forego  a  compromise  so  blessed,  an  arbitration  so  divine!  Oh!  kiss  the 
feet  of  the  Daysman;  love  him  all  thy  life,  that  he  has  decided  the 
case  so  blessedly. 

III.    Let  us  now  look  at  the  Daysman's  success. 

For  every  soul  who  has  received  Christ,  Christ  has  made  a  full  atone- 
ment which  God  the  Father  has  accepted;  and  his  success  in  this  matter 
is  to  be  rejoiced  in,  first  of  all,  because  the  suit  has  been  settled  conclU' 
sivelij.  We  have  known  cases  go  to  arbitration,  and  yet  the  parties 
have  quarrelled  afterwards;  they  have  said  that  the  arbitrator  did  not 
rule  justly,  or  something  of  the  kind,  and  so  the  whole  point  has  been 
raised  again.  But  0  beloved,  the  case  between  a  saved  soul  and  God  is 
settled  once  and  for  ever.  There  is  no  more  conscience  of  sin  left  in 
the  believer;  and  as  for  God's  Book,  there  is  not  a  sin  recorded  there 
against  any  soul  that  has  received  Christ.  I  know  some  of  our  Arminian 
brethren  rather  think  that  the  case  is  not  settled;  or  they  suppose  that 
the  case  is  settled  for  a  time,  but  that  it  will  one  day  come  up  again. 
Beloved,  I  thank  God  that  they  are  mistaken.  Christ  has  not  cast  his 
people's  sins  into  the  shallows,  where  they  may  be  washed  up  again, 
but  he  has  cast  them  into  the  depths  of  the  sea,  where  they  are  drowned 
for  ever.  Our  scape-goat  has  not  carried  our  sins  to  the  borders  of  the 
land,  where  they  may  be  found  again,  but  he  has  taken  them  away  into 
the  wilderness  where,  if  they  be  searched  for,  they  shall  not  be  found. 
The  case  is  so  settled  that  in  eternity  you  shall  never  hear  of  it  again 
except  as  a  case  which  was  gloriously  decided. 

Again,  the  case  has  been  settled  on  t/ie  best  principles,  because,  you 
see,  neither  party  can  possibly  quarrel  with  the  decision.  The  sinner 
cannot,  for  it  is  all  mercy  to  him:  even  eternal  justice  cannot,  for 
it  has  had  its  due.  If  there  had  been  any  mitigation  of  the  penalty, 
we  might  yet  fear  that  perhaps  the  suit  might  come  up  again;  but  now 
that  everything  has  been  paid,  that  cannot  be.  If  my  creditor  takes 
from  me,  by  a  settlement  in  the  Court  of  Insolvency,  ten  shillings  in 
the  pound,  I  know  he  will  not  disturb  me  yet;  but  I  cannot  feel 
quite  at  ease  about  the  other  ten  shillings;  and  if  I  am  ever  able,  I 
eliould  like  to  pay  him.  But,  you  see,  Christ  has  not  paid  ten  shillings 
in  the  pound,  but  he  has  paid  every  farthing. 

"  Justice  now  demands  no  more, 
He  has  paid  the  dreadful  score." 

For  all  the  sins  of  all  his  people  he  has  made  such  a  full  and  satisfaC' 


THE  GREAT  ARBITHATION   CASE  C59 

tory  fitonement,  tlmt  divine  justice  were  not  divine  justice  at  all  if  it 
Bhould  ask  to  be  paid  twice  for  the  same  oiFence.  Christ  has  suffered 
the  law's  fullest  and  severest  penalty,  and  there  is  now  no  fear  what- 
ever that  the  case  can  ever  be  revived,  by  writ  of  error,  or  removal 
into  another  court,  because  it  has  been  settled  on  the  eternal  and  immu- 
table principles  of  justice. 

Again,  the  CR?e  has  been  so  settled,  that  hotk  parties  are  well  contmt. 
Y'ou  never  hear  a  saved  soul  murmur  at  the  substitution  of  the  Lord 
Jesus.  If  ever  I  get  to  see  his  face,  I'll  fall  down  before  him  and  kiss 
the  dust  beneath  his  feet.  Oh!  if  ever  I  see  the  Saviour  who  has  thus 
delivered  me  from  ruin;  if  I  have  a  crown  I  will  cast  it  at  his  feet,  and 
never,  never  wear  it;  it  must,  it  shall  be  his.  I  feel  like  the  good 
woman  who  said,  that  if  Christ  ever  saved  her,  he  should  never  hear 
the  last  of  it;  and  I  am  sure  he  never  shall,  for  I  will  praise  him  as 
long  as  immortality  endures,  for  what  he  has  done  for  me.  I  am  sure 
that  every  saved  sinner  feels  the  same.  And  Jehovah,  on  the  other 
side,  is  perfectly  content.  He  is  satisfied  with  his  dear  Son.  "  Well 
done!"  he  saith  to  him.  He  has  received  him  to  the  throne  of  glory, 
and  made  him  to  sit  at  his  right  hand,  because  he  is  perfectly  content 
^Yith  the  great  work  which  he  has  accomplished. 

But,  what  is  more  and  more  wonderful  still,  loth  parties  have  gained 
in  the  suit.  Did  you  ever  hear  of  such  a  law-suit  as  this  before?  No, 
never  in  the  courts  of  man.  The  old  story  of  the  two  oyster-shells,  you 
know,  awarded  to  the  plaintiff  and  defendant,  while  the  oyster  is  eaten 
in  court,  is  generally  the  result;  but  it  is  not  so  in  this  case,  for  both  the 
plaintiff  and  the  defendant  have  won  by  the  arbitration.  What  has 
God  gained?  Why,  glory  to  himself,  and  such  glory  as  all  creation 
could  not  give  him,  such  glory  as  the  ruin  of  sinners,  though  so  well- 
deserved,  could  not  give  him.    Hark  how 

"  Heaven's  eternal  arches  ring 
With  shouts  of  sovereign  gi-ace!" 

Angels,  too,  as  well  as  those  who  have  been  redeemed,  strike  their  harps, 
which  they  have  turned  afresh  to  a  nobler  strain,  as  they  sing,  "Worthy 
is  the  Lamb,  and  blessed  is  the  eternal  God!"  And,  as  for  us,  the  poor 
defendants,  why,  Avhat  have  we  not  gained?  We  were  men  before;  now 
we  are  something  more  than  Adam  was.  We  were  "a  little  lower" 
than  the  angels "  bafore,  but  now  we  are  **  lifted  up  far  above  all 
principalities  and  powers."  We  were  God's  subjects  once,  but  this 
arbitration  has  made  us  his  sons.  We  were  at  our  very  best  only 
the  possessors  of  a  paradise  on  earth,  but  now  we  are  joint-heirs  with 
Christ  of  a  paradise  above  the  skies.  Both  sides  have  won,  and  both 
sides  must  therefore  be  blessedly  content  with  their  glorious  Daysman. 
And,  to  conclude,  through  this  Daysman  both  parties  Jiave  come  to  be 
united  in  the  strongest,  closest,  dearest,  and  fondest  botid  of  union.  This 
law-suit  has  ended  in  such  a  way  that  the  plaintiff  and  the  defendant 
nre  friends  for  life,  nay,  friends  through  death,  and  friends  in  eternity, 
Uow  near  God  is  to  a  pardoned  sinner, 

"So  near,  so  very  near  to  God, 
Nearer  we  cannot  be ; 
For  in  the  person  of  his  Son, 
We  are  as  near  as  he." 


6fiO  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE  PULPIT. 

What  a  wonderful  thing  is  that  union  between  God  and  the  sinner!  We 
have  all  been  thinking  a  great  deal  lately  about  the  Atlantic  Cable. 
It  is  a  Tery  interesting  attempt  to  join  two  worlds  together.  That  poor 
cable,  you  know,  has  had  to  be  sunk  into  the  depths  of  the  sea, 
in  the  hope  of  establishing  a  union  between  the  two  worlds,  and 
now  we  are  disappointed  again.  But  oh!  what  an  infinitely  greater 
wonder  has  been  accomplished.  Christ  Jesus  saw  the  two  worlds 
divided,  and  the  great  Atlantic  of  human  guilt  rolled  between.  He 
sank  down  deep  into  the  woes  of  man  till  all  God's  waves  and  billows 
had  gone  over  him,  that  he  might  be,  as  it  were,  the  great  telegraphic 
communication  between  God  and  the  apostate  race,  between  the  Most 
Holy  One  and  poor  sinners.  Let  me  say  to  you,  sinner,  there  was 
no  failure  in  the  laying  down  of  that  blessed  cable.  It  went  down  deep; 
the  end  was  well  secured,  and  it  went  down  deep  into  the  depths  of  our 
sin,  and  shame,  and  woe;  and  on  the  other  side  it  has  gone  right  up  to 
the  eternal  throne,  and  is  fastened  there  eternally  fast,  by  God  himself. 
You  may  work  that  telegraph  to-day,  and  you  may  easily  understand 
the  art  of  working  it  too.  A  sigh  will  work  it;  a  tear  will  work  it. 
Say,  "  God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner,"  and  along  the  wire  the  message 
will  flash,  and  will  reach  God  before  it  (Jomes  from  you.  It  is  swifter  far 
than  earthly  telegraphs;  ay,  and  there  will  come  an  answer  back  much 
sooner  than  you  ever  dream  of,  for  it  is  promised — "  Before  they  call 
I  will  answer,  and  while  they  are  yet  speaking  I  will  hear."  AVho  ever 
heard  of  such  a  communication  as  this  between  man  and  man;  but  it 
really  does  exist  between  sinners  and  God,  since  Christ  has  opened  up  a 
way  from  the  depths  of  our  sin  to  the  heights  of  his  glory. 

This  is  for  you  who  are  at  a  distance  from  him,  but  he  has  done  more 
for  us  who  are  saved,  for  he  has  taken  us  right  across  the  Atlantic  of  our 
sin  and  set  us  down  on  the  other  side;  he  has  taken  us  out  of  our  sinful 
state,  and  put  us  into  the  Father's  bosom,  and  there  we  shall  dwell  for 
ever  in  the  heart  of  God  as  his  own  dear  children. 

I  would  to  God  that  some  might  now  be  led  to  look  to  the  Saviour, 
that  some  would  come  with  weeping  and  with  tears  to  him,  and  say, 

" '  Jesus  lover  of  my  soul, 
Let  me  to  thy  bosom  fly.' 

Take  my  case,  and  arbitrate  for  me;  I  accept  thine  atonement;  I  trust  in 
thy  precious  blood;  only  receive  me  and  I  will  rejoice  in  thee  for  ever 
with  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory. " 
May  the  Lord  bless  you  evermore.    Amen. 


PORTIOK  OF  SCRIPIUBB  READ  BEFORE  SERMON.—Isaial)  llii. 


THE  LORD,— THE  LIBERATOR. 

Delivered  on  Sunday  Morning,  December  Htu,  1SG2,  bt  ^ 

REV.  C.  H.  SPURGEON, 

AT  THE  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE,  NEWINOTON. 
"The  Lord  looseth  the  prisoners." — Psalm  cxlvi.  7. 

When  preaching  last  Tuesday  in  Dover,  the  mayor  of  the  town  very  >C 
courteously  lent  the  ancient  town-hall  for  the  service,  and  in  passing 
alonj;  to  reach  a  private  entrance,  I  noticed  a  large  number  of  grated 
windows  upon  a  lower  level  than  the  great  hall.  These  belonged  to  the 
prison  cells  where  persons  committed  for  offences  within  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  borough  were  confined.  It  at  once  struck  me  as  a  singular  combi- 
nation, that  we  should  be  preaching  the  gospel  of  liberty  in  the  upper 
chamber,  while  there  were  prisoners  of  the  law  beneath  us.  Perhaps  when 
we  sang  praises  to  God,  the  prisoners,  like  those  who  were  in  the  same  jail 
with  Paul  and  Silas,  heard  us;  but  the  free  word  above  did  not  give  them 
liberty,  nor  did  the  voice  of  song  loose  their  bonds.  Alas !  what  a  picture 
is  this  of  many  in  our  congregations.  We  preach  liberty  to  the  captives; 
we  proclaim  the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord;  but  how  many  remain 
year  after  year  in  the  bondage  of  Satan,  slaves  to  sin.  We  send  up  our 
notes  of  praise  right  joyously  to  our  Father  who  is  in  heaven,  but  our 
praises  cannot  give  them  joy,  for  alas !  their  hearts  are  unused  to 
gratitude.  Some  of  them  are  mourning  on  account  of  unpardoned 
sin,  and  others  of  them  are  deploring  their  blighted  hopes,  for  they 
have  looked  for  comfort  where  it  is  never  to  be  found.  Let  us  breathe 
a  prayer  at  the  commencement  of  the  sermon  this  morning,  "Lord, 
break  the  fetters,  and  set  free  the  captives.  Glorify  thyself  this  morning 
by  proving  thyself  to  be  Jehovah,  who  looseth  the  prisoners." 

The  little  circumstance  which  I  have  mentioned,  fixed  itself  in  my 
mind,  and  in  my  private  meditations  it  thrust  itself  upon  me.  My 
thoughts  ran  somewhat  in  an  allegory,  until  I  gave  imagination  its  full 
rein  and  bid  her  bear  me  at  her  will.  In  my  day-dream  I  thought  that 
some  angelic  warder  was  leading  me  along  the  corridors  of  this  great 
world-prison,  and  bidding  me  look  into  the  various  cells  where  the 
prisoners  were  confined,  reminding  me  ever  and  anon  as  I  looked  sorrow- 
ful, that  "  Jehovah  looseth  the  prisoners."  What  I  thought  of,  I  will 
now  tell  out  to  you.  The  dress  of  the  sermon  may  be  metaphorical;  but 
my  only  aim  is  to  utter  comforting,  substantial  truth;  and  may  the 

No.  48  i. 


t>86  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE  PULPIT. 

Master  grant  that  some  of  you  who  have  been  in  these  prisons,  as  I 
have  been,  may  this  day  come  out  of  them,  and  rejoice  that  the  Lord 
has  loosed  you. 

I.    The  first  cell  to  which  I  went,  and  to  which  I  shall  conduct  you, 
is  called  the  common  2:>rison.    In  this  common  prison,  innumerable  souls 
arc   sliut"up.    It   were   useless    to   attempt    to    count    them;    they 
are  legion;  their  number  is  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand.    This  is 
the  ward  of  sin.    All  the  human  race  have  been  prisoners  here;  and 
those  who  this  day  are  perfectly  at  liberty,  once  wore  the  heavy  chain, 
and  were  immured  within  the  black  walls  of  this  enormous  prison.     I 
stepped  into  it,  and  to  my  surprise,  instead  of  hearing,  as  I  had  expected, 
notes  of  mourning  and  lament,  I  heard  loud  and  repeated  bursts  of 
laughter.  The  mirth  was  boisterous  and  obstreporous.  The  profane  were 
cursing  and  blaspheming;  others  were  shouting  as  though  they  had  found 
great  spoil.     I  looked  into  the  faces  of  some  of  the  criminals,  and  saw 
sparkling  gaiety:  their  aspect  was  rather  that  of  wedding-guests  than 
prisoners.  Walking  to  and  fro,  I  noticed  captives  who  boasted  that  they 
were  free,  and  when  I  spoke  to  them  of  their  prison-house,  and  urged 
them  to  escape,  they  resented  my  advice,  saying,  "We  were  bom  free,  and 
were  never  in  bondage  unto  any  man."    They  bade  me  prove  my  words; 
and  when  I  pointed  to  the  irons  on  their  wrists,  they  laughed  at  me,  and 
eaid  that  these  were  ornaments  which  gave  forth  music  as  they  moved ; 
it  was  only  my  dull  and  sombre  mind,  they  said,  which  made  me  talk  of 
clanking  fetters  and  jingling  chains.    There  were  men  fettered  hard 
and  fast  to  foul  and  evil  vices,  and  these  called  themselves  free-livers, 
while  others  whose  very  thoughts  were  bound,  for  the  iron  had  entered 
into  their  soul,  with  braggart  looks,  cried  out  to  me,  that  they  were  free- 
thinkers.   Truly,  I  had  never  seen  such  bond-slaves  in  mv  life  before, 
nor  any  so  fast  manacled  as  these;  but  ever  did  I  mark  as  I  walked  this 
prison  through  and  through,  that  the  most  fettered  thought  themselves 
the  most  free,  and  those  who  were  in  the  darkest  part  of  the  dungeon, 
thought  they  had  most  light,  and  those  whom  I  considered  to  be  the 
most  wretched,  and  the  most  to  be  pitied,  were  the  very  ones  who 
laughed  the  most,   and  raved  most  madly  and  boisterously  in  thoir 
mirth.     I  looked  with  sorrow    but  as  I  looked,  I  saw  a  bright  spirit 
touch  a  prisoner  on  the  shoulder,  Avho  thereon  Avithdrew  with  the 
shining  one.     He  went  out,  and  I  knew,  for  I  had  read  the  text — 
"The   Lord  looseth  the  prisoners,"   I  knew  that  the  prisoner  had 
been  loosed  from  the  house  of  bondage.    But  I  noted  that  as  he  went 
forth  his  late  bond-fellows  laughed  and  pointed  with  the  finger,  and 
called  him  sniveller,  hypocrite,  mean  pretender,  and  all  ill  names,  until 
the  prison  walls  rang  and  rang  again  with  their  mirthful  contempt !     I 
watched,  and  saw  the  mysterious  visitant  touch  another,  and  then 
another,  and  another,  and  they  disappeared.    The  common  conversation 
of  the  prison  said  that  they  had  gone  mad;   that  they  were  become 
slaves,  or  miserable  fanatics,  whereas  I  knew  that  they  were  gone  to  be  free 
for  ever;  emancipated  from  every  bond.     AVhat  struck  me  most  was, 
that  the  prisoners  who  were  touched  with  the  finger  of  delivering  love 
»vere  frequently  the  worst  of  the  whole  crew.      I  marked  one  who  had 
ulusphcmed,  but  the  Divine  hand  touched  him,  and  he  went  weeping 


THE  LORD, — ^THE  LIBERATOR.  687 

out  of  the  gate.  I  saw  another  who  had  often  scoffed  the  loudest  when 
he  had  seen  others  led  away,  but  he  went  out  as  quietly  as  a  lamb.  I 
observed  some,  whom  I  thought  to  be  the  least  depraved  of  them  all.  but 
they  were  left,  and  oftentimes  the  blackest  sinners  of  the  whole  company 
were  first  taken,  and  I  remembered  that  I  had  somewhere  in  an  old  book 
read  these  words — "  The  publicans  and  the  harlots  enter  into  the  king- 
dom of  God  before  you."  As  I  gazed  intently,  1  saw  some  of  those  men 
who  had  once  been  prisoners  come  back  again  into  the  prison — not  in 
the  same  dress  which  they  had  worn  before,  but  arrayed  in  white  robes, 
looking  like  new  creatures.  They  began  to  talk  with  their  fellow- 
prisoners;  and,  oh !  how  sweetly  did  they  speak !  They  told  them  there 
was  liberty  to  be  had;  that  yonder  door  would  open,  and  that  they 
might  escape.  They  pleaded  with  their  fellow-men,  even  unto  tears.  I 
saw  them  sit  down  and  talk  with  them  till  they  wept  upon  their  necks, 
urging  them  to  escape,  pleading  as  though  it  were  their  own  life  that 
was  at  stake.  At  first  I  hoped  within  myself  that  all  the  company  of 
prisoners  would  rise  and  cry,  "  Let  us  be  free."  But  no;  the  more  these 
men  pleaded  the  harder  the  others  seemed  to  grow,  and,  indeed,  I  found 
it  so  when  I  sought  myself  to  be  an  ambassador  to  these  slaves  of  sin. 
Wherever  the  finger  of  the  shining  one  was  felt  our  pleadings  easily 
prevailed;  but  save  and  except  in  those  who  were  thus  touched  by  the 
heavenly  messenger  all  our  exhortations  fell  upon  deaf  ears,  and  we  left 
that  den  of  iniquity  crying,  "  Who  hath  believed  out  report,  and  to 
whom  is  the  arm  of  the  Lord  revealed  ?"  Then  I  was  cast  into  a  muse, 
as  I  considered  what  a  marvel  of  mercy  it  was  that  I  myself  should  be 
free;  for  well  do  I  remember  when  I  spumed  every  invitation  of  love; 
when  I  hugged  my  chains,  dreamed  my  prison  garb  to  be  a  royal  robe, 
and  took  the  meals  of  the  prison,  called  the  pleasures  of  sin,  and  relished 
them  as  sweet,  yea,  dainty  morsels,  fit  for  princes.  How  it  came  to  pass 
that  sovereign  grace  should  have  set  me  free  I  cannot  tell;  only  this  I 
loiow,  I  will  sing  for  ever,  while  I  live  and  when  I  die,  that  "  The  Lord 
looseth  the  prisoners."  Our  gracious  God  knoweth  how  to  bring  us  up 
out  from  among  the  captives  of  sin,  set  our  feet  in  the  way  of  righ- 
teousness and  liberty,  make  us  his  people,  and  keep  us  so  for  ever. 
Alas!  how  many  have  I  now  before  me  who  are  prisoners  in  this 
common  prison  ? 

"  Oh!  sovereign  grace,  their  hearts  subdue; 

May  they  be  freed  from  bondage  too ; 

As  willing  followers  of  the  Lord, 

Brought  forth  to  freedom  by  his  word." 

n.  I  asked  the  guide  where  those  were  led  who  were  released  from 
the  common  ward.  He  told  me  that  they  were  taken  away  to  be  free, 
perfectly  free;  but  that  before  their  complete  gaol  deliverance  it  was 
necessary  that  they  should  visit  a  house  of  detention  which  he  wou)'^ 
show  me.  He  led  me  thither.  It  was  called  the  solitary  cell.  1  had  heard 
much  of  the  solitary  system,  and  I  wished  to  look  insi/ie  this  ceil,  sup- 
posing that  it  would  be  a  dreadful  place.  Over  the  door  was  written 
this  word — "  Penitence,"  and  when  I  opened  it  I  found  it  so  clean  and 
white,  and  withal  so  sweet  and  full  of  light,  that  I  said  this  place  was 
fitter  to  be  a  house  of  prayer  than  a  prison,  and  my  guide  told  me  that 


688  METROPOLITAN  TADERNACLE   PULPIT. 

indeed  so  it  was  originally  intended,  and  that  nothing  but  that  iron 
(loor  of  unbelief  which  the  prisoners  would  persist  in  shutting  fast  made 
it  a  prison  at  all.    When  once  that  door  was  open  the  place  became  so 
dear  an  oratory,  that  those  who  were  once  prisoners  therein  were  wont  to 
come  back  to  the  cell  of  their  own  accord,  and  begged  leave  to  use  it,  not 
as  a  prison,  but  avS  a  closet  for  prayer  all  their  lives  long.    He  even  told 
me  that  one  was  heard  to  say  when  he  was  dying,  that  his  only  regret 
in  dying  was,  that  in  heaven  there  would  be  no  cell  of  penitence.     Here 
David  wrote  seven  of  his  sweetest  Psalms;  Peter  also  wept  bitterly  here; 
and  the  woman  who  was  a  sinner  here  washed  the  feet  of  her  Lord. 
But  this  time  I  was  regarding  it  as  a  prison,  and  I  perceived  that  the 
person  in  the  cell  did  so  consider  it.     I  found  that  every  prisoner  in  this 
cell  must  be  there  alone.     He  had  been  accustomed  to  mix  with  the 
crowd,  and  find  his  comfort  in  the  belief  that  he  was  a  Christian  because 
born  in  a  Christian  nation ;  but  he  learned  that  he  must  be  saved  alone 
if  saved  at  all.    He  had  been  accustomed  aforetime  to  go  up  to  the 
house  of  God  in  company,  and  thought  that  going  there  was  enough  ; 
but  now  every  sermon  seemed  to  be  aimed  at  him,  and  every  threatening 
smote  his  conscience.   I  remembered  to  have  read  a  passage  in  the  same 
old  book  I  quoted  just  now — "  I  will  pour  out  upon  the  house  of  David, 
and  upon  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem,  the  spirit  of  grace  and  of  sup- 
plications :  and  they  shall  look  upon  me  whom  they  have  pierced,  and 
they  shall  mourn  for  him,  as  one  moumeth  for  his  only  son,  and  shall 
be  in  bitterness  for  him,  as  one  that  is  in  bitterness  for  his  firstborn. 
And  the  land  shall  mourn,  every  family  apart ;  the  family  of  the  house 
of  David  apart,  and  their  wives  apart ;   the  family  of  the  house  of 
Nathan  apart,  and  their  wives  apart;  the  family  of  the  house  of  Levi 
apart,  and  their  wives  apart;  the  family  of  Shimei  apart,  and  their  wives 
apart ;  all  the  families  that  remain,  every  family  apart,  and  their  wives 
apart."    I  noticed  that  the  penitent,  while  thus  alone  and  apart  in  his 
cell,  sighed  and  groaned  full  oft,  and  now  and  then  mingled  with  his 
penitential  utterances  some  words  of  unbelief.    Alas !  were  it  not  for 
these,  that  heavy  door  would  long  ago  have  been  taken  from  its  hinges. 
'Twas  unbelief  that  shut  the  prisoners  in,  and  if  unbelief  had  been 
removed  from  this  cell  I  say  it  had  been  an  oratory  for  heaven,  and  not 
a  place  for  disconsolate  mourning  and  lamentation.     As  the  prisoner 
wept  for  the  past,  he  prophecied  for  the  future,  and  groaned  that  he 
should  never  come  out  of  this  confinement,  because  sin  had  ruined  him 
utterly,  and  destroyed  his  soul  eternally.    How  foolish  his  fears  were  all 
men  might  see,  for  as  I  looked  round  upon  this  clean  and  white  cell,  I 
saw  that  the  door  had  a  knocker  inside,  and  that  if  the  man  had  but 
the  courage  to  lift  it  there  was  a  shining  one  standing  ready  outside 
who  would  open  the  door  at  once;  yea,  more,  I  perceived  that  there 
was  a  secret  spring  called  faith,  and  if  the  man  could  but  touch  it, 
though  it  were  but  with  a  trembling  finger,  it  would  make  the  door 
fly  open.      Then  I  noticed  that  this  door  had  on  the  lintel  and  on  the 
two  side  posts  thereof  the  marks  of  blood,  and  any  man  who  looked  on 
that  blood,  or  lifted  that  knocker,  or  touched  that  spring,  found  the  door 
of  unbelief  fly  open,  and  he  came  out  from  the  cell  of  his  solitary  peni- 
tence to  rejoice  in  the  Lord  who  had  put  away  his  sin,  and  cloauscd  iiim 


THE  LORD, — THE  LIBERATCU.  689 

for  ever  from  all  iniquity.  So  I  spoke  to  this  penitent,  and  bade  him 
trust  in  the  blood,  and  it  may  be  that  through  my  words  the  Lord  after- 
wards loosed  the  prisoner;  but  this  I  learned,  that  no  words  of  mine 
alone  could  do  it,  for  in  this  case,  even  where  repentance  was  mingled 
with  but  a  little  unbelief,  'tis  the  Lord,  the  Lord  alone,  who  can  loose 
the  prisoners. 

III.  I  passed  away  from  that  cell,  though  I  would  have  been  content 
to  linger  there,  and  I  halted  at  another;  this,  also,  had  an  iron  gate  of 
unbelief,  as  heavy  and  as  ponderous  as  the  former.  I  heard  the  warder 
coming,  and  when  he  opened  the  door  for  me  it  grated  horribly  upon  its 
Ainges,  and  disturbed  the  silence,  for  this  time  I  was  come  into  the  silent 
cell.  The  wretch  confined  here  was  one  who  said  he  could  not  pray.  If 
he  could  pray  he  would  be  free.  He  was  groaning,  crying,  sighing, 
weeping  because  he  could  not  pray.  All  he  could  tell  me,  as  his  eye- 
balls rolled  in  agony,  was  this — "I  would,  but  cannot,  pray;  I  would 
plead  with  God,  but  I  cannot  find  a  word,  my  guilt  has  smitten  me 
dumb."  Back  he  went,  and  refused  to  speak  again,  but  he  kept  up  a 
melancholy  roaring  all  the  day  long.  In  this  place  no  sound  was  heard 
but  that  of  wailing;  all  was  hushed  except  the  dropping  of  his  tears  upon 
the  cold  stone,  and  his  dreary  miserere  of  sighs  and  groans.  Verily  thought 
I  this  is  a  sad  and  singular  case,  yet  I  remember  when  I  was  in  that 
cell  myself  I  did  not  think  it  strange.  I  thought  that  the  heavens  were 
brass  above  me,  and  that  if  I  cried  never  so  earnestly  the  Lord  would 
shut  out  my  prayer.  I  durst  not  pray,  I  was  too  guilty,  and  when  I  did 
dare  to  pray  'twas  hardly  prayer,  for  I  had  no  hope  of  being  heard. 
"No,"  I  said,  "it  is  presumption;  I  must  not  plead  with  him;"  and 
when  at  times  I  would  have  prayed,  I  could  not;  something  choked  all 
utterance,  and  the  spirit  could  only  lament,  and  long,  and  pant,  and 
sigh  to  be  able  to  pray.  I  know  that  some  of  you  have  been  in  this 
prison,  and  while  I  am  talking  to  you  this  morning  you  will  remember 
it,  and  bless  God  for  deliverance.  Perhaps  some  of  you  are  in  it  now, 
and  though  I  say  I  think  your  case  is  very  strange,  it  will  not  seem  so 
to  you.  But  do  you  know,  there  was  a  little  table  in  this  cell,  and  on 
the  table  lay  a  key  of  promise,  inscribed  with  choice  words.  I  am  sure 
the  key  would  unlock  the  prison-door,  and  if  the  prisoner  had  possessed 
skill  to  use  it;  he  might  have  made  his  escape  at  once.  This  was  the 
key,  and  these  were  the  words  thereon — "  The  Lord  looked  down  from 
the  height  of  his  sanctuary:  from  heaven  did  the  Lord  behold  the  earth; 
to  hear  the  groaning  of  the  prisoner;  to  loose  those  that  are  appointed 
to  death."  Now,  thought  I,  if  this  man  cannot  speak,  yet  God  hears  his 
groans;  if  he  cannot  plead,  God  listens  to  his  sighs,  and  beholds  him  all 
the  way  from  heaven,  with  this  purpose,  that  he  may  catch  even  the 
faintest  whisper  of  this  poor  man's  broken  heart  and  set  him  free ;  for 
though  the  soul  feels  it  can  neither  plead  nor  pray,  yet  it  has  prayed,  and 
it  shall  prevail.  I  tried  to  catch  the  ear  of  my  poor  friend  a  little  Avhile, 
and  I  talked  to  him,  though  he  would  not  speak  with  me.  I  reminded 
him  that  the  book  in  his  cell  contained  instances  of  dumb  men  whom 
Jesus  had  taught  to  speak,  and  I  told  him  that  Christ  was  able  to  make 
him  speak  plainly  too.  I  turned  to  the  book  of  Jonah,  and  read  him 
these  words, — "  Out  of  the  belly  of  hell  cried  I,  and  thou  hear^est  me." 


690  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE  PULPIT. 

I  quoted  the  words  of  Elias,  "  Go  again  seven  times."  I  told  him  that 
the  Lord  needed  no  fine  language,  for  misery  is  the  best  argument  for 
mercy,  and  our  wounds  the  best  mouths  to  speak  to  God's  ear.  Beeides, 
I  told  him  we  have  an  Advocate  with  the  Father  who  openeth  his  mouth 
for  the  dumb,  so  that  those  who  cannot  speak  for  themselves  have  one 
to  speak  for  them.  I  told  the  man  that  whether  he  could  pray  or  not 
he  was  bidden  to  look  at  the  blood-marks  over  his  door;  that  the 
publican  was  justified  by  the  blood,  though  he  could  only  cry  "  God,  be 
merciful  to  me,  a  sinner."  I  pleaded  with  him  to  receive  the  Lord's  own 
testimony,  that  the  Lord  Jesus  is  "able  to  save  unto  the  uttermost  thexi 
that  come  unto  God  by  him,"  that  he  waited  to  be  gracious,  and  was  a 
God  ready  to  pardon;  but  after  all,  I  felt  that  the  Lord  alone  must  loose 
his  prisoners.    0,  gracious  God,  loose  them  now ! 

IV.  "We  had  not  time  to  stay  long  at  any  one  place,  so  we  hastened 
to  a  fourth  door.  The  door  opened  and  shut  behind  me  and  I  stood 
alone.  What  did  I  see  ?  I  saw  nothing !  'Twas  dark,  dark  as  Egypt 
in  her  plague !  This  was  the  black  hole  called  the  cell  of  ignorance. 
1  groped  as  a  blind  man  gropeth  for  the  wall.  I  was  guided  by  my  ear 
by  sobs  and  moans  to  a  spot  where  there  knelt  a  creature  in  an  earnest 
agony  of  prayer.  I  asked  him  what  made  his  cell  so  dark.  I  knew  the 
door  was  made  of  unbelief,  which  surely  shuts  out  all  light,  but  I  mar- 
velled why  this  place  should  be  darker  than  the  rest,  only  I  recollected 
to  have  read  of  some  that  sat  "  in  darkness,  and  in  the  shadow  of  death, 
being  bound  in  aflliction  and  iron."  I  asked  him  if  there  were  no  win- 
dows to  the  cell.  Yes,  there  were  windows,  many  windows,  so  people 
told  him,  but  they  had  been  stopped  up  years  ago,  and  he  did  not  know 
the  way  to  open  them.  He  was  fully  convinced  that  they  never  could 
afford  light  to  him.  I  felt  for  one  of  the  ancient  lightholes,  but  it 
•  seemed  as  if,  instead  of  giving  light,  it  emitted  darkness;  I  touched  it 
with  my  hand  and  it  felt  to  me  to  have  once  been  a  window  such  as  I 
nad  ^azed  through  with  delight.  He  told  me  it  was  one  of  the 
doctrines  of  grace  which  had  greatly  perplexed  him;  it  was  called 
Election.  He  said  he  should  have  had  a  little  light  had  it  not  been  for 
that  doctrine,  but  since  God  had  chosen  his  people,  and  he  felt  persuaded 
that  he  had  not  chosen  him,  he  was  lost  for  ever,  since  if  he  were  not 
chosen,  it  was  hopeless  for  him  to  seek  for  mercy.  I  went  up  to  that 
window  and  pulled  out  some  handfuls  of  rags ;  filthy  rotten  rags  which 
some  enemies  of  the  doctrine  had  stuffed  into  the  opening;  caricatures 
and  misrepresentations  of  the  doctrine  maliciously  used  to  injure  the 
glorious  truth  of  divine  sovereignty.  As  I  pulled  out  these  rags,  light 
streamed  in,  and  the  man  smiled  as  I  told  him,  "  It  is  a  mercy  for 
thee  that  there  is  such  a  doctrine  as  election,  for  if  there  were  no 
siuch  doctrine,  there  would  be  no  hope  for  thee ;  salvation  must  either 
be  by  God's  will  or  by  man's  merit;  if  it  were  by  man's  merit, 
thou  wouldest  never  be  saved,  but  since  it  is  by  God's  will,  and  he 
will  have  mercy  on  whom  he  will  have  mercy,  there  is  no  reason 
why  he  should  not  have  mercy  on  thee,  even  though  thou  raayest  be  the 
chief  of  sinners.  Meanwhile  he  bids  thee  believe  in  his  Son  Jesus,  and 
gives  thee  his  divine  word  for  it,  that  "  Him  that  cometh  unto  him  he 
will  in  no  wise  cast  out."  The  Uttle  light  thus  shed  upon  tiie  poor  man 


THE   LORD, — THE   LIBERATOR,  691 

led  him  to  seek  for  more,  ao  he  pointed  to  another  darkened  window 
which  was  called — The  Fall — or  Human  Depravity.     The  man  said, 
*'  Oh,  there  is  no  hope  for  me  for  I  am  totally  depraved,  and  my  nature 
is  exceeding  vile;  there  is  no  hope  for  me."     I  pulled  the  rags  out  of 
this  window  too,  and  I  said  to  him,  "  Do  you  not  see  that  your  ruin  fits 
you  for  the  remedy?     It  is  because  you  are  lost  that  Christ  came  to 
save  you.     Physicians  are  for  the  sick,  robes  for  the  naked,  cleansing 
for  the  filthy,  and  forgiveness  for  the  guilty."    He  said  but  little,  but  he 
pointed  to  another  window,  which  was  one  I  had  long  looked  through 
and  seen  my  Master's  glory  by  its  means;    it  was  the  doctrine  of 
Particular  Redemption.    "Ah!"  said  he,  "suppose  Christ  has  not  re- 
deemed me  with  his  precious  blood!     Suppose  he  has  never  bought  me 
with  his  death!"     I  knocked  out  some  old  bricks  which  had  been  put 
in  by  an  unskilful  hand,  which  yet  blocked  out  the  light,  and  I  told 
him  that  Christ  did  not  offer  a  mock  redemption,  but  one  which  did 
really  redeem,  for  "  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  God's  Son,  cleanseth  us 
from  all  sin."    "Ah !"  he  said,  "  but  suppose  I  am  not  one  of  the  '  usi ' " 
I  told  him  that  he  that  believeth  and  trusteth  Christ,  is  manifestly  ono 
of  those  whom  Jesus  came  to  save,  for  he  is  saved.     I  told  him  that 
inasmuch  as  universal  redemption  manifestly  does  not  redeem  all,  it  was 
unworthy  of  his  confidence;  but  a  ransom  which  did  redeem  all  believers, 
who  are  the  only  persons  for  whom  it  was  presented,  was  a  sure  ground 
to  build  upon.     There  were  other  doctrines  like  these.    I  found  the 
man  did  not  understand  one  of  them;  that  the  truth  had  been  mis- 
represented to  him,  and  he  had  heard  the  doctrines  of  grace  falsely 
stated  and  caricatured,  or  else  had  never  heard  them  at  all.    He  had 
been  led  by  some  blind  guide  who  had  led  him  into  the  ditch,  and  now 
when  the  windows  were  opened  and  the  man  could  see,  he  saw  written 
over  the  door,  "  Believe  and  live!"  and  in  the  new  light  which  he  had 
found  he  trusted  his  Lord  and  Saviour,   and  walked  out  free,  and 
marvelled  that  he  had  been  so  long  a  slave.     I  marvelled  not,  but  I 
thought  in  my  heart  how  accursed  are  those  teachers  who  hide  the  light 
from  the  eyes  of  men  so  that  they  understand  not  the  way  of  life. 
Ignorant  souls,  who  know  not  the  plan  of  salvation,  will  have  many 
sorrows,  which  they  might  escape  by  instruction.    Study  your  Bibles 
well;  be  diligent  in  attending  upon  a  free-grace  ministry;  labour  after  a 
clear  apprehension  of  the  plan  of  salvation,  and  it  will  often  please  God 
that  when  you  come  to  understand  his  truth  your  spirits  will  receive 
comfort,  for  it  is  by  the  truth  that  "  the  Lord  looseth  the  prisoners." 

V.  I  passed  on  and  came  to  another  chamber.  This  room,  marked 
number  five,  was  large,  and  had  many  persons  in  it  who  were  trying  to 
walk  to  and  fro,  but  every  man  had  a  chain  round  his  ankle,  and  a 
huge  cannon-ball  fixed  to  it — a  military  punishment  they  said  for 
deserters  from  the  ranks  of  virtue.  This  clog^of^haUt  troubled  the 
prisoner  much.  I  saw  some  of  them  trying  to  file  their  chains  witU 
rusty  nails,  and  others  were  endeavouring  to  fret  away  the  iron  by 
dropping  tears  of  penitence  thereon;  but  these  poor  men  made  but  little 
progress  at  their  work.  The  warder  told  me  that  this  was  the  chain  of 
Habit,  and  that  the  ball  which  dragged  behind  was  the  old  propensity  to 
lust  and  sin.  I  asked  him  why  they  did  not  get  the  chains  knocked  off, 


692  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACT.E  PULPIT. 

and  he  said  they  had  been  trying  a  long  time  to  be  rid  of  them,  but  they 
never  could  do  it  in  the  way  they  went  to  work,  since  the  proper  way  to 
get  rid  of  the  chain  of  habit  was,  first  of  all,  to  get  out  of  prison;  the  door 
of  unbelief  must  be  opened,  and  they  must  trust  in  the  one  great 
deliverer  the  Lord  Jesus,  whose  pierced  hands  could  open  all  prison 
doors;  after  that,  upon  the  anvil  of  grace  with  the  hammer  of  love, 
their  fetters  could  be  broken  off.  I  stayed  awhile,  and  I  saw  a  drunkard 
led  out  of  his  prison,  rejoicing  in  pardoning  grace.  He  had  aforetime 
laboured  to  escape  from  his  drunkenness,  but  some  three  or  four  times 
he  broke  his  pledge,  and  went  back  to  his  old  sin.  I  saw  that  man 
trust  in  the  precious  blood  and  he  became  a  Christian,  and  be- 
coming a  Christian  he  could  no  more  love  his  cups;  at  one  stroke  of  the 
hammer  the  ball  was  gone  for  ever.  Another  was  a  swearer;  he  knew 
it  was  wrong  to  blaspheme  the  Most  High,  but  he  did  it  still,  till  he 
gave  his  heart  to  Christ,  and  then  he  never  blasphemed  again,  for  that 
foul  thing  was  abhorred.  I  noticed  some,  and  methinks  I  am  one  of 
them  myself,  although  they  had  the  ball  taken  away,  yet  on  their  hands 
there  were  the  remains  of  old  chains.  Like  Paul,  in  another  case,  when 
we  rejoice  in  all  things  we  have  to  say,  "  Except  these  bonds."  Once 
we  were  chained  both  hands  together;  the  divine  hammer  has  smitten 
off  the  connecting  links,  but  still  some  one  or  two  are  left  hanging 
there.  Ah !  often  has  that  link  made  rae  cry  out — "  0  wretched  man 
that  I  am,  who  shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death!"  Though 
I  am  free,  yet  still  the  iron  clings  to  its  hold,  and  will  hang  there  till  I 
die.  "  When  I  would  do  good  evil  is  present  with  me."  0  that  old 
Adam  nature,  the  corrupt  flesh,  would  God  we  were  rid  of  it! 
Blessed  be  the  Lord,  as  the  pulse  begins  to  beat  high  with  heaven's 
glory,  the  band  will  burst,  and  we  shall  be  perfect  for  ever.  There 
is  no  way  of  getting  rid  of  the  links  of  old  habits  but  by  leaving 
the  prison  of  unbelief  and  coming  to  Christ,  then  the  evil  habits  are 
renounced  as  a  necessary  consequence  though  the  temptation  will 
remain.  Though  sometimes  we  have  to  feel  a  link  of  the  chain,  it  is 
a  subject  of  unbounded  thankfulness  that  the  link  is  not  fastened  to  the 
staple.  We  may  sometimes  feel  it  dragging  behind,  enough  to  trip  us  up, 
60  that  we  cannot  run  in  the  path  of  obedience  as  swiftly  as  we  would, 
but  it  is  not  in  the  staple  now.  The  bird  can  fly;  though  there  be  a 
remnant  of  its  cord  about  its  foot  it  mounts  up  to  heaven,  singing  its 
song  of  praise.  The  Lord  must  loose  prisoners  from  their  evil  habits. 
lle°can  do  it;  a  drop  of  Jesu's  blood  can  eat  the  iron  all  away,  and  the 
file  of  his  agonies  can  cut  through  the  chain  of  long-acquired  sins,  and 
make  us  free.    "  The  Lord  looseth  the  prisoners." 

VI.  I  must  take  you  to  another  cell.  In  almost  all  prisons  where 
they  do  not  want  to  make  vagabonds  worse  than  when  they  entered, 
they  have  hard  labour  for  them.  In  the  prison  I  went  to  see  in  my 
reverie  there  was  a  hard-labour  room.  Those  who  entered  it  were  mostly 
very  proud  people ;  they  held  their  heads  very  high,  and  would  not 
bend;  they  were  birds  with  fine  feathers,  and  thought  themselves  quite 
unfit  to  be  confined,  but  being  in  durance  vile,  they  resolved  to  work 
their  own  way  out.  They  believed  in  the  system  of  human  merit,  and 
hoped  in  due  time  to  purchase  their  liberty.    They  had  saved  up  a  few 


THE  DOllD,— THE   LIliLilATOR.  C03 

old  connterfeit  farthings,  with  which  they  thought  they  could  by-and-byc 
Bot  themselves  free,  though  my  bright  attendant  plainly  declared  their 
folly  and  mistake.  It  was  amusing,  and  yet  sad,  to  see  what  different 
works  these  people  were  about.  Some  of  them  toiled  at  a  tread-wheel ; 
they  were  going  to  the  stars  they  said,  and  there  they  were,  tread,  tread, 
tread,  with  all  their  might;  but  though  they  had  been  labouring  for  years, 
and  were  never  an  inch  "higher,  yet  still  they  were  confident  that  they  were 
mounting  to  the  skies.  Others  were  trying  to  make  garments  out  of 
cobwebs ;  they  were  turning  wheels,  and  spinning  at  a  great  rate,  and 
though  it  came  to  nothing  they  wrought  on.  They  believed  they  should 
be  free  as  soon  as  they  had  made  a  perfect  garment,  and  I  believe  they 
will.  In  one  place  a  company  laboured  to  build  houses  of  sand,  and 
when  they  had  built  up  to  some  height  the  foundation  always  yielded, 
but  they  renewed  their  efforts,  for  they  dreamed  that  if  a  substantial 
edifice  were  finished  they  would  then  be  allowed  to  go  free.  I  saw  some 
of  them,  strangely  enough,  endeavouring  to  make  wedding  garments  out 
of  fig-leaves,  by  sewing  them  together,  but  the  fig-leaves  were  of  a  sort 
that  were  shrivelled  every  night,  so  that  they  had  to  begin  the  next  morn- 
ing their  hopeless  toil.  Some,  I  noticed,  were  trying  to  pump  water  out  of 
a  dry  well,  the  veins  stood  out  upon  their  brows  like  whipcords  while 
they  worked  amain  without  result.  As  they  laboured,  like  Samson 
when  he  Avas  grinding  at  the  mill,  I  could  hear  the  crack  of  whips  upon 
their  backs.  I  saw  one  ten-thonged  whip  called  tlie  Law,  the  terrible 
Law — each  lash  being  a  commandment,  and  this  was  laid  upon  the  bare 
backs  and  consciences  of  the  prisoners ;  yet  still  they  kept  on  work,  work, 
work,  and  would  not  turn  to  the  door  of  gi-ace  to  find  escape.  I  saw 
Bome  of  them  fall  down  fainting,  whereupon  their  friends  strove  to  bring 
them  water  in  leaking  vessels,  called  ceremonies ;  and  there  were  some  men 
called  priests,  who  ran  about  with  cups  which  had  no  bottoms  in  them, 
which  they  held  up  to  the  lips  of  these  poor  fainting  wretches  to  give 
them  comfort.  As  these  men  fainted,  I  thought  they  would  die,  but 
they  struggled  up  again  to  work.  At  last  they  could  do  no  more,  and 
fell  down  under  their  burdens  utterly  broken  in  spirit ;  then  I  saw  that 
every  prisoner  who  at  last  so  fainted  as  to  give  up  all  hope  of  his  own 
deliverance  by  merit,  was  taken  up  by  a  shining  spirit,  and  carried  out 
of  the  prison  and  made  free  for  ever.  Then  I  thought  within  myself, 
'Surely,  surely,  these  are  proud  self-righteous  persons  who  will  not 
submit  to  be  saved  by  grace,  '  therefore  He  brought  down  their  heart 
with  labour ;  they  fell  down  and  there  was  none  to  help ;  then  they 
cried  unto  the  Lord  in  their  trouble,  and  he  saved  them  out  of  their  dis- 
tresses.'" I  rejoiced  and  blessed  God  that  there  was  such  a  prison-house 
to  bring  them  to  Jesus ;  yet  I  mourned  that  there  were  so  many  who 
still  loved  this  house  of  bondage  and  would  not  escape,  though  there 
Rtood  one  with  his  finger  always  pointing  to  the  words — *'  By  the  works 
of  the  law  shall  no  flesh  living  be  justified ; "  and  to  these  other  words, 
"  By  grace  are  ye  saved  through  faith,  and  that  not  of  yourselves :  it 
is  the  gift  of  God."  I  had  seen  enough  of  that  prison-house,  for  I  recol- 
lect being  there  myself,  and  I  have  some  of  the  scars  upon  my  spirit 
now.  I  desire  not  to  go  back  to  it,  but  as  I  have  received  Christ  Jesus 
the  Lord  so  would  I  walk  in  Him,  knowing  that  if  the  Son  make  me 
free  I  shall  be  free  indeed. 


694  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE  PULPIT. 

VI I.  We  must  not  leave  these  corridors  till  we  have  peered  into  all 
the  cells;  for  we  may  not  come  here  again.  As  I  passed  along,  there 
was  another  cell,  called  The  Low  Dungeon  of  Despomlency.  I  had  read 
of  this  in  the  book  of  Jeremiah — a  pit  wherein  there  was  no  water,  of 
which  the  prophet  said,  "  He  hath  led  me  and  brought  me  into  darkness 
and  not  into  light."  I  looked  down.  It  was  a  deep,  dark,  doleful 
place;  down  in  it  I  saw  by  the  gloomy  light  of  tlie  warder's  lantern  a 
poor  soul  in  very  deep  distress,  and  I  bade  him  speak  to  me,  and  tell  me 
his  case.  He  said  he  had  been  a  great  offender,  and  he  loiew  it;  he  had 
been  convinced  of  sin;  he  had  heard  the  gospel  preached,  and  sometimes 
he  thought  it  was  for  him,  but  at  other  times  he  felt  sure  it  was  not; 
there  were  seasons  when  his  spirit  could  lay  hold  of  Christ,  but  there 
were  times  when  he  dared  not  hope.  Now  and  then,  he  said,  some 
gleams  of  light  did  come;  once  a  week  when  he  had  his  provision  sent 
down,  a  little  fresh  bread  and  water,  he  did  feel  a  little  encouraged,  but 
by  the  time  the  Monday  came — for  his  provision  was  always  sent  down 
on  Sunday — he  felt  himself  as  low  and  miserable  as  ever.  I  called  out  to 
him  that  there  was  a  ladder  up  the  side  of  the  prison  and  if  he  would 
but  climb  it,  he  might  escape,  But  the  poor  soul  could  not  feel  the  steps. 
I  reminded  him  that  he  need  not  be  where  he  was,  for  a  divine  hand  had 
let  down  ropes  to  draw  him  up,  with  soft  cushions  for  his  armholes;  but 
I  seemed  as  one  that  mocked  him,  and  I  heard  some  that  tormented  him 
bid  him  call  me  "  liar."  These  were  two  villains  called  Mistrust  and 
Timorous,  Avho  were  bent  upon  keeping  him  here,  even  though  they 
knew  that  he  was  an  heir  of  heaven,  and  had  a  right  to  liberty.  Finding 
myself  powerless,  I  thus  learned  the  more  fully  that  the  Lord  must 
loose  these  prisoners  or  else  they  must  be  prisoners  for  many  a-day;  yet 
it  was  a  great  comfort  to  recollect  that  no  soul  ever  died  in  that  dungeon 
if  it  had  really  felt  its  need  of  Christ,  and  cried  for  mercy  through  his 
blood.  No  soul  ever  utterly  perished  while  it  called  upon  the  name  of 
the  Lord ;  it  might  lie  in  the  hold  till  it  seemed  as  if  the  moss  would 
grow  on  its  eye-lids,  and  the  worms  eat  its  mildewed  corpse,  but  it  never 
did  perish,  for  in  due  time  it  was  brought  by  simple  faith  to  believe  that 
Christ  is  "  able  to  save,  even  to  the  uttennost,"  and  then  they  come  up, 

0  how  quickly,  from  their  low  dungeon,  and  they  sing  more  sweetly  than 
others — "  He  hath  brought  me  up  out  of  the  horrible  pit,  and  out  of  the 
miry  clay;  he  hath  set  my  feet  upon  a  rock,  and  put  a  new  song  in  my 
mouth,  and  established  my  going." 

Vin.  Shudder  not  at  the  clinging  damps,  for  I  must  take  you  to  another 
dungeon  deeper  than  this  last;  it  is  called  the  inner  prison.  Paul  and  Silas 
were  cast  into  the  inner  prison,  and  their  feet  made  fast  in  the  stocks,  yet 
they  sang  in  their  prison ;  but  in  this  dungeon  no  singing  was  ever  heard. 
It  is  /A*  Jwkl  of  despair.    I  need  not  enlarge  much  in  my  description. 

1  hope  you  have  never  been  there;  and  I  pray  you  never  may.  Ah! 
when  a  spirit  once  gets  into  that  inner  prison,  comforts  are  turned  at 
once  into  miseries,  and  the  very  promises  of  God  appear  to  be  in  league 
for  the  destruction  of  the  soul.  John  Bunyan  describes  old  Giant 
Despair  and  his  crab-tree  cudgel  better  than  I  can  do  it.  Sorrowful  is 
that  ear  which  has  heard  the  gi'ating  of  the  huge  iron  door,  and  full  of 
terror  is  the  heart  which  has  felt  the  chilly  damps  of  that  horrible  fit. 


THE  LORD, — THE  LIBERATOR.  695 

Are  any  of  you  in  that  dungeon  to-day  ?  Do  you  say,  "  I  have  grieved 
the  Spirit,  and  he  is  gone;  my  day  of  grace  is  over;  I  have  sinned 
against  light  and  knowledge;  I  am  lost?"  0  man,  where  are  you? 
I  must  have  you  free.  What  a  splendid  trophy  of  grace  you  will 
make !  My  Master  loves  to  find  such  great  sinners  as  you  are,  that 
he  may  exhibit  his  power  to  save.  Oh!  what  a  platform  for  my 
Lord  to  rear  the  standard  of  his  love  upon,  when  he  shall  have  fought 
with  you  and  overcome  you  by  his  love.  What  a  victory  this  shall  be. 
How  Avill  the  angels  sing  unto  him  that  loved  the  vilest  of  the  vile,  and 
ransomed  the  despairing  one  out  of  the  hand  of  cruel  foes.  I  have  more 
hope  of  you  than  I  have  of  others;  for  when  the  surgeon  enters  the 
hospital  after  an  accident,  he  always  goes  to  the  worse  case  first. 
If  there  be  a  man  who  has  broken  his  finger  only,  "Oh!  let  him  be," 
say  they,  "he  can  wait;"  but  if  there  be  a  poor  fellow  who  is  much 
mangled,  "Ah!"  says  the  surgeon,  "I  must  see  to  this  case  at  once." 
So  is  it  with  you;  but  the  Lord  must  loose  you;  I  cannot.  Only  this 
I  know,  if  you  would  bat  believe  me,  there  is  a  key  which  will  fit  the 
lock  of  your  door  of  unbelief.  Come,  look  over  this  bunch  of  keys: 
**  He  is  able  to  save  to  the  uttermost  them  that  come  unto  God  by  him." 
"  This  is  a  faithful  saying  and  worthy  of  all  acceptation,  that  Christ 
Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners."  "  He  that  believeth  on 
him  is  not  condemned."  "  Come  unto  me  all  ye  that  labour  and  are 
heavy-laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest."  Brother,  this  inner  dungeon 
can  be  opened  by  the  Lord  Jesus. 

"  The  gates  of  brass  before  him  burst,  the  iron  fetters  yield." 

IX.  I  am  getting  to  the  end  of  this  dark  story  now ;  but  tarry  f 
moment  at  the  grating  of  the  DeviVs  Torture  CJmmher,  for  I  have  been 
in  it ;  yes,  I  have  been  tormented  in  it,  and  therefore  I  tell  you  no 
dream ;  I  tarried  in  it  till  my  soul  melted  because  of  agony,  and  there- 
fore speak  what  I  do  know,  and  not  what  I  have  learned  by  report. 
There  is  a  chamber  in  the  experience  of  some  men  where  the  temptations 
of  the  devil  exceed  all  belief.  Eead  John  Bunyan's  "  Grace  abounding," 
if  you  would  understand  what  I  me&n.  The  devil  tempted  him,  he  says, 
to  doubt  the  existence  of  Go^l;  the  truth  of  Scripture;  the  manhood  of 
Christ;  then  his  deity;  and  once,  he  says,  he  tempted  him  to  say  things 
which  he  will  never  write,  lest  he  should  pollute  others.  Ah !  I  re- 
member a  dark  hour  with  myself  when  I,  who  do  not  remember  to  have 
even  heard  a  blasphem  in  my  youth,  much  less  to  have  uttered  one, 
heard  rushing  through  my  soul  an  infinite  number  of  curses  and 
blasphemies  against  the  Most  High  God,  till  I  put  my  hand  to  my 
mouth  est  they  should  be  uttered,  and  I  was  cast  down,  and  cried  to 
the  merciful  God  that  he  would  save  me  from  them.  Oh!  the  foul 
things  which  the  fiend  will  inject  into  the  spirit ;  the  awful,  damnable 
things,  the  oflspring  of  his  own  infernal  den,  which  he  will  foist  upon 
us  as  our  own  thoughts  in  such  hosts,  and  so  quickly  the  one  after  the 
other,  that  the  spirit  has  hardly  time  to  swallow  down  its  spittle,  and 
though  it  hates  and  loathes  these  things,  still  it  cannot  escape  from 
them,  for  it  is  in  prison.  Ah !  well,  thank  God  no  soul  ever  perished 
through  such  profanities  as  those,  for  if  we  hate  them  they  are  none  of 


696  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE   PULPIT. 

ours ;  if  we  loathe  them  it  is  not  our  sin,  but  Satan's,  and  God  will  in 
due  time  bring  us  to  be  free  from  these  horrors.  Though  the  hosts  ot 
hell  may  have  ridden  over  our  heads,  yet,  let  us  cry  "  Rejoice  not  over 
me  0  mine  enemy,  though  I  fall  yet  shall  I  rise  again."  Use  your 
sword,  poor  prisoner !  You  have  one.  '^ It  is  tvritten" — "the  sword  of 
the  Spirit  which  is  the  Word  of  God."  Give  your  foe  a  deadly  stab ; 
tell  him  that  "  God  is,  and  that  he  is  the  rewarder  of  them  that  dili- 
gently seek  him,"  and  you  may  yet  see  him  spread  his  dragon  wings 
and  fly  away.  This,  too,  is  a  prison  in  which  unbelief  has  confined 
both  saint  and  sinner,  and  the  Lord  himself  must  loose  these  prisoners. 

X.  Last  of  all,  there  is  one  dungeon  which  those  confined  therein  have 
called  the  condemjied  cell.  I  was  in  it  once.  In  that  room  the  man 
writes  fitter  things  against  himself;  he  feels  absolutely  sure  that  the 
wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him;  he  wonders  the  stones  beneath  his  feet 
do  not  open  a  grave  to  swallow  him  up;  he  is  astonished  that  the  walls 
of  the  prison  do  not  compress  and  crush  him  into  nothingness;  he 
marvels  that  he  has  his  breath,  or  that  the  blood  in  his  veins  does  not 
turn  into  rivers  of  flame.  His  spirit  is  in  a  dreadful  state;  he  not  only 
feels  he  shall  be  lost,  but  he  thinks  it  is  going  to  happen  now.  The 
condenmed  cell  in  Newgate,  I  am  told,  is  just  in  such  a  comer  that  the 
condemned  can  hear  the  putting-up  of  the  scaffold.  Well  do  I  remember 
hearing  my  scaffold  put  up,  and  the  sound  of  the  hammer  of  the  law  as 
piece  after  piece  was  put  together !  It  appeared  as  if  I  heard  the  noise 
of  the  crowd  of  men  and  devils  who  would  witness  my  eternal  execu- 
tion, all  of  them  howling  and  yelling  out  their  accursed  things  against 
my  spirit.  Then  there  was  a  big  bell  that  tolled  out  the  hours,  and  I 
thought  that  very  soon  the  last  moment  would  arrive,  and  I  must  mount 
the  fatal  scaffold  to  be  cast  away  for  ever.  Oh !  that  condemned  cell ! 
Next  to  Tophet,  there  can  be  no  state  more  wretched  than  that  of  a  man 
who  is  brought  here !  And  yet  let  me  remind  you  that  when  a  man  is 
thoroughly  condemned  in  his  own  conscience  he  shall  never  be  con- 
denmed. When  he  is  once  brought  to  see  condemnation  written  on 
everything  that  he  has  done,  though  hell  may  flame  in  his  face,  he  shall 
be  led  out,  but  not  to  execution;  led  out,  but  not  to  perish,  "he  shall 
be  led  forth  with  joy,  and  he  shall  go  forth  with  peace;  the  mountains 
and  the  hills  shall  break  forth  before  him  into  singing,  and  all  the  trees 
of  the  field  shall  clap  their  hands."  As  we  read  in  histoiy  of  one  who 
was  met  with  a  pardon  just  when  the  rope  was  round  his  neck,  just  so 
does  God  deal  with  poor  souls ;  when  they  feel  the  rope  about  their 
necks,  acknowledge  that  God's  sentence  is  just,  and  confess  that  if  they 
perish  they  cannot  complain,  it  is  then  that  sovereign  mercy  steps  in 
and  cries,  "  I  have  blotted  out  like  a  cloud  thine  iniquities,  and  like  a 
thick  cloud  thy  sins;  thy  sins  which  are  many  are  all  forgiven  thee." 

And  now,  thon  glorious  Jehovah,  the  Liberator,  unto  thee  be  praises ! 
All  thy  redeemed  bless  thee,  and  those  who  are  to-day  in  their  dungeons 
cry  unto  thee !  Stretch  out  thy  bare  aim,  thou  mighty  Deliverer !  Thou 
who  didst  €cnd  thy  Son  Jesus  to  redeem  by  blood,  send  now  thy  Spirit  to 
set  free  by  power,  and  this  day,  even  this  day,  let  multitudes  rejoice  io 
the  liberty  wherewith  thou  makest  free;  and  unto  Father,  Son,  and  Holy 
Ghost,  Israel's  one  Redeemer,  be  glory  for  ever  and  ever !  Amen. 


pii^tiiapolitjiii  Salr(|maelii  f  ulllH. 


■a — r ■ — 


SIN  LAID  ON  JESUS. 


•ennan 

DRLIVEREn  ON   SUNDAY   MORNINO,   JUNE    IOTH,    1866,    BY 

C.  11.  SPURGEON, 

AT  THE  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE,   NEWINGTON. 


'*  All  we  like  sheep  have  gone  astray  ;  we  have  turned  every  one  to  his  own  way  ; 
und  the  Lord  hath  laid  on  him  the  iniquity  of  us  all." — Isaiah  liii.  6. 

The  verse  opens  with  a  confession  of  sin  common  to  all  the  persons  in- 
tended in  the  verse.  The  whole  of  the  elect  people  of  God  seem  to  me 
to  be  here  represented ;  they  have  all  fallen,  those  of  them  who  have 
lived  to  years  of  responsibility  have  all  actually  sinned,  and  therefore  in 
common  chorus  they  all  say  from  the  first  who  entered  heaven  to  the 
last  who  shall  enter  there,  "  All  we  like  sheep  have  gone  astray."  But 
the  confession  while  thus  hearty  and  unanimous,  is  also  special  and 
particular:  "  "VVe  have  turned  every  one  to  his  own  way."  There  is 
a  peculiar  sinfulness  about  every  one  of  the  individuals;  all  are  sinful, 
but  each  one  with  some  special  agfjravation  not  found  in  his  fellow.  It 
is  the  mark  of  genuine  repentance  that  while  it  naturally  associates  itself 
with  other  penitents,  it  also  feels  that  it  must  take  up  a  position  of 
loneliness.  "We  have  turned  everyone  to  his  own  way"  is  a  con- 
fession importing  that  each  man  had  sinned  against  light  peculiar  to 
himself,  or  sinned  with  an  aggravation  which  he  at  least  could  not 
perceive  in  his  fellow.  This  confession  being  thus  general  and  particular 
has  many  other  traits  of  excellence  about  it  of  which  we  cannot  just 
now  speak.  It  is  very  unreserved.  You  will  obseiwe  that  there  is  not 
a  single  syllable  by  way  of  excuse ;  there  is  not  a  word  to  detract  from 
the  force  of  the  confession.  It  is  moreover  singularly  thoughtful,  for 
thoughtless  persons  do  not  use  a  metaphor  so  appropriate  as  the  text : 
"All  we  like  sheep  have  gone  astray."  Not  like  the  ox  which  "knoweth 
its  owner,"  nor  even  like  the  ass  which  "  remembers  its  master's  crib," 
nor  even  like  the  swine  which  if  it  wandereth  all  day  long  cometh  back  to 
the  trough  at  night,  but  "like  sheep  we  have  gone  astray ;"  like  a  creature 
cared  for  but  not  capable  of  grateful  attachment  to  the  hand  that  cares 
for  it;  like  a  creature  wise  enough  to  find  the  gap  in  the  hedge  by  which 
to  escape,  but  so  silly  as  to  have  no  propensity  or  desire  to  return  to  the 
place  from  which  it  had  perversely  wandered ;  like  sheep  habitually, 
constantly,  wilfully,  foolishly,  without  power  to  return,  we  have  gone 
astray.  I  wish  that  all  our  confessions  of  sin  showed  a  like  thoughtful- 
ness,  for  to  say  that  we  are  "  miserable  sinners  "  may  be  an  increase 
ot  our  sin  unless  we  have  really  felt  it,  to  \ise  words  of  general  confea* 
No.  G94. 


311  METROPOLITAN   TABERNACLE   PULPIT. 

sion  without  our  soul  entering  into  them  may  be  but  a  *'  repentanCfl 
that  needeth  to  be  repented  of,"  an  insult  and  mockery  to  high  Heaven 
vented  in  that  very  place  where  there  ought  to  have  been  the  greatest 
possible  tenderness  and  holy  fear.  I  like  the  confession  of  the  text 
because  it  is  a  giving  up  of  all  pleas  of  self-righteousness.  It  is  the 
declaration  of  a  body  of  men  who  are  guilty,  consciously  guilty;  guilty 
with  aggravations,  guilty  without  excuse;  and  here  they  all  stand  with 
their  weapons  of  rebellion  broken  in  pieces,  saying  unanimously,  "  All 
we  like  sheep  have  gone  astray;  we  have  turned  every  one  to  his  own  way." 

I  hear  no  dolorous  wailings  attending  this  confession  of  sin;  for  the 
next  sentence  makes  it  almost  a  song.  "  The  Lord  hath  laid  on  him  the 
iniquity  of  us  all."  It  is  the  most  grievous  sentence  of  the  three;  but 
it  is  the  most  charming  and  the  most  full  of  comfort.  Strange  is  it  that 
where  misery  was  concentrated  mercy  reigned,  and  where  sorrow  reached 
her  climax  there  it  is  that  a  weary  soul  finds  sweetest  rest.  The  Saviour 
bruised  is  the  healing  of  bruised  hearts. 

I  want  now  to  draw  the  hearts  of  all  who  feel  the  confession  to  the 
blessed  doctrine  set  forth  in  the  text:  the  Lord  hath  laid  on  Christ 
tke  iniquity  of  us  all. 

We  shall  take  the  text  first  by  way  of  exposition ;  then  by  way  of 
ajjplication ;  and  we  shall  conclude  with  serious  and  I  hope  profitable 
contemplation. 

I.  First,  let  us  consider  the  text  by  way  of  exposition. 

1.  It  may  be  well  to  give  the  marginal  translation  of  the  text, "  Jehovah 
hath  made  to  meet  on  him  the  iniquity  of  us  all."  The  first  thought 
that  demands  notice  is,  the  meeting  of  sin.  Sin  I  may  compare  to  the 
rays  of  some  evil  sun.  ^^In  was  scattered  throughout  this  world  as 
abundantly  as  light,  and  Christ  is  made  to  suffer  the  full  effect  of  the 
baleful  rays  which  stream  from  the  sun  of  sin.  God  as  it  were  holds  up 
a  burning  glass,  and  concentrates  all  the  scattered  rays  in  a  focus  upon 
Christ.  That  seems  to  be  the  thought  of  the  text,  "  The  Lord  hath 
focused  upon  him  the  iniquity  of  us  all."  That  which  was  scattered 
abroad  everywhere  is  here  brought  into  terrible  concentration ;  upon  the 
devoted  head  of  our  blessed  Lord  all  the  sin  of  his  people  was  made  to 
meet.  Before  a  great  storm  when  the  sky  is  growing  black  and  the 
wind  is  beginning  to  howl,  you  have  seen  the  clouds  hurrying  from 
almost  every  point  of  the  compass  as  though  the  great  day  of  battle  were 
come,  and  all  the  dread  artillery  of  God  were  hurrying  to  the  field. 
In  the  centre  of  the  whirlwind  and  the  storm,  when  the  lightnings 
threaten  to  set  all  heaven  on  a  blaze,  and  the  black  clouds  fold  on  fold 
labour  to  conceal  the  light  of  day,  you  have  a  very  graphic  metaphor  of 
the  meeting  of  all  sin  upon  the  person  of  Christ;  the  sin  of  the  ages  past 
and  the  sin  of  the  ages  to  come,  the  sins  of  those  of  the  elect  who  were 
in  heathendom,  and  of  those  who  were  in  Jewry;  the  sin  of  the  young 
and  of  the  old,  sin  original  and  sin  actual,  all  made  to  meet,  all  the 
black  clouds  concentrated  and  brought  together  into  one  great  tempest 
that  it  might  rush  in  one  tremendous  tornado  upon  the  person  of  the 
great  lledeemcr  and  substitute.  As  when  a  thousand  streamlets  dash 
down  the  mountain  side  in  the  day  of  rain,  and  all  meet  in  one  deep 
BWoUen  lake;  that  lake  the  Saviour'.'*  heart,  those  gushing  torrents  the 
sins  of  us  all  who  are  here  described  as  making  a  full  confession  cf  our 
Bins.     Or  to  take  a  metaphor  not  from  nature  but  from  commerce 


SIX  LAID  ON  JESUS.  Si5 

suppose  the  debts  of  a  gi-eat  number  of  persons  to  be  all  gathered  up,  the 
scattered  bonds  and  bills  that  are  to  be  honoured  or  dishonoured  on 
Buch  and  such  a  day,  and  all  these  laid  upon  one  person  who  undertakes 
the  responsibility  of  meeting  every  one  of  them  without  a  single  assistant; 
such  was  the  condition  of  the  Saviour;  the  Lord  made  to  meet  on  him 
the  debts  of  all  his  people  so  that  he  became  responsible  for  all  the 
obligations  of  every  one  of  those  whom  his  Father  had  given  him  what- 
soever their  debts  might  be.  Or  if  these  metaphors  do  not  suffice  to  set 
forth  the  meaning,  take  the  text  in  our  own  version,  '*  The  Lord  hath 
laid  on  him  the  iniquity  of  us  all;"  put  upon  him  as  a  burden  is  laid  \y 
upon  a  man's  back  all  the  burdens  of  all  hi?  people;  put  upon  his  head  as 
the  high  priest  of  old  laid  upon  the  scape-goat  all  the  sin  of  the  beloved  ^ 
ones  that  he  might  bear  them  in  his  own  person.  The  two  translations 
you  see  are  perfectly  consistent;  all  sins  are  made  to  meet,  and  then 
having  met  together  and  been  tied  up  in  one  crushing  load  the  whole 
burden  is  laid  upon  him. 

2.  The  second  thought  is  that  sin  ivas  made  to  meet  upon  the  sufering 
person  of  the  i?i?iocent  substitute.  I  have  said  "  the  suflFering  person " 
because  the  connection  of  the  text  requires  it.  "  He  was  wounded  ^ 
for  our  transgressions,  he  was  bruised  for  our  iniquities;  the  chastise- 
ment of  our  peace  was  upon  him,  and  with  his  stripes  we  are  healed." 
It  is  in  connection  with  this,  and  as  an  explanation  of  all  his  grief, 
that  it  is  added,  "The  Lord  hath  laid  on  him  the  iniquity  of  us  all." 
The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  would  have  been  incapable  of  receiving  the  sin 
of  all  his  people  as  their  substitute  had  he  been  himself  a  sinner:  but 
he  was,  as  to  his  divine  nature,  worthy  to  be  hymned  as  "  Holy,  Holy, 
Holy,  Lord  God  of  Sabaoth;"  and,  as  to  his  human  nature,  he  was  by 
miraculous  conception  free  from  all  original  sin,  and  in  the  holiness 
of  his  life  he  was  such  that  he  was  the  spotless  Lamb  of  God,  without 
spot,  or  wrinkle,  or  any  such  thing,  and  therefore  he  was  on  all  accounts 
capable  of  standing  in  the  room,  place,  and  stead  of  sinful  men.  The 
doctrine  of  the  text  is,  that  Jesus  Christ,  who  was  man  of  the  substance 
of  his  mother,  and  who  was,  nevertheless,  very  God  of  very  God, 
mast  true  and  glorious  Creator,  Pi'eserver,  did  stand  in  such  a  position 
as  to  take  upon  himself  the  iniquity  of  all  his  people,  remaining  still 
himself  innocent;  having  no  personal  sin,  being  incapable  of  any,  but 
yet  taking  the  sin  of  others  upon  himself — it  has  been  the  custom  of 
theologians  to  say — by  imputation;  but  I  question  whether  the  use  of  that 
word,  although  correct  enough  as  it  is  understood  by  us,  may  not  have  lent 
some  colour  to  the  misrepresentations  of  those  who  oppose  the  doctrine  of 
substitution.  I  will  not  say  that  the  sins  of  God's  people  were  imputed  to 
Christ,  though  I  believe  they  were;  but  it  seems  to  me  that  in  a  way  mora 
mysterious  than  that  which  imputation  would  express,  the  sins  of  God's 
people  were  actually  laid  upon  Jesus  Christ;  that  in  the  view  of  God,  not 
only  was  Christ  treated  as  if  he  had  been  guilty,  but  the  very  sin  itself  was, 
1  know  not  how,  but  according  to  the  text  it  was  somehow  laid  upon 
the  head  of  Christ  Jesus:  "  For  he  hath  made  him  to  be  sin  for  us  who  i/ 
knew  no  sin,  that  we  might  be  made  the  righteousness  of  God  in  him." 
Is  it  not  written,  "  He  shall  bear,"  not  merely  the  punishment  of  their 
sin,  nor  the  imputation  of  their  sin,  but  "  He  shall  bear  their  iniquities"? 
Our  sin  is  laid  on  Jesus  in  even  a  deeper  and  trner  sense  than  ia 
expressed  by  the  term  imputation.     I  do  not  think  I  can  express  it. 


^6  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE  PULPIT. 

nor  convey  the  idea  that  I  have  in  my  own  mind,  but  while  Je>m  nnver 
was  and  never  could  be  a  sinner,— God  forbid  that  the  blasphemous 
thought  should  ever  cross  our  lips  or  dwell  upon  our  heartl— yet  the 
Bin  of  his  people  was  literally  and  truly  laid  upon  him. 

3.  It  has  been  asked,  Was  it  Just  that  sin  should  thus  be  laid  upon 
Christ?  Our  reply  is  fourfold.  AVe  believe  it  was  rightly  so,  first 
because  eY  tvas  the  act  of  him  loho  must  do  right,  for  "  the  Lord  hath  laid 
on  him  the  iniquity  of  us  all."  Jehovah,  he  against  whom  the  offence 
was  committed,  and  who  has  ordained  that  the  sin  of  the  people  spoken 
of  should  be  laid  jipon  Christ.  To  impugn  this,  then,  would  be  to  im- 
pugn the  justice  of  Jehovah,  and  I  pray  that  none  of  us  may  have 
the  hardihood  to  do  that.  Shall  the  potsherd  venture  to  strive  with 
the  potter  ?  shall  the  thing  formed  contend  with  the  Creator  of  a  I 
things?  Jehovah  did  it;  and  we  accept  it  as  being  right,  caring  not 
what  men  may  think  of  Jehovah's  own  deed.  Eemember,  moreover, 
that  Jesus  Christ  voluntarily  took  this  sin  upon  himself.  It  was  not 
forced  upon  him.  He  was  not  punished  for  the  sins  of  others  with 
whom  he  had  no  connection  and  against  his  will;  but  He  his  own  self 
bare  our  sins  in  his  own  body  on  the  tree,  and  while  bearing  it  said. 
^  "No  man  taketh  my  life  from  me,  but  I  lay  it  down  of  myself." 
It  was  according  to  his  own  eternal  agreement  made  with  the  Father  on 
our  behalf ;  it  was  according  to  his  own  expressed  desire,  for  he  had  u 
baptism  to  be  baptized  with,  and  he  was  straitened  until  it  was  accom- 
plished; and  therefore  whatever  of  injustice  might  be  supposed,  it  is 
removed  by  the  fact  that  he  who  was  mainly  concerned  in  it  was  him- 
self voluntarily  placed  in  such  a  position.  But  I  would  have  you 
remember,  beloved,  that  there  tvas  a  relationship  between  our  Lord  and 
his  people,  vihioXi  h  too  often  forgotten,  but  which  rendered  it  natural 
that  he  should  bear  the  sin  of  his  people.  Why  does  the  text  speak 
V  of  our  sinning  like  sheep?  I  think  it  is  because  it  would  call  to  our 
recollection  that  Christ  is  our  Shepherd.  It  is  not,  my  brethren,  that  Christ 
took  upon  himself  the  sins  of  strangers.  Remember  that  there  always 
was  a  union  of  a  most  mysterious  and  intimate  kind  between  those  who 
sinned  and  the  Christ  who  suffered.  "What  if  I  say  that  it  is  not  unjust 
but  according  to  law  that  when  a  woman  gets  into  debt  her  husband 
should  bear  it?  And  the  church  of  God  sinning  it  was  but  right  that 
her  Husband,  who  had  espoused  her  unto  himself,  should  become  the 
debtor  on  her  behalf.  The  Lord  Jesus  stood  in  the  relationship  of  a 
married  husband  unto  his  church,  and  it  was  not,  therefore,  a  strange 
thing  that  he  should  bear  her  burdens.  It  was  natural  for  the  next  of 
kin  to  redeem  the  inheritance,  it  was  most  seemly  that  Immanucl,  the 
next  of  kin,  should  redeem  his  lost  church  by  his  own  blood.  Kccollcct 
that  tliere  was  a  union  closer  even  than  the  marriage  bond,  for  wo 
are  members  of  his  body.  You  shall  not  punish  this  hand  of  mine 
without  making  the  sentient  nature  which  dwells  in  the  brain  to  sallt-r 
therewith;  and  does  it  seem  strange  to  you  that  when  the  inferior 
members  of  the  body  have  transgressed  the  Head  should  be  made 
to  suffer?  It  seems  to  me,  my  brethren,  that  while  substitution 
\3  full  of  grace,  it  is  not  unnatural,  but  according  to  the  laws  of 
«verlasting  love.  Yet  there  is  a  fourth  consideration  that  may 
remove  the  difficulty  of  sin  being  laid  upon  Christ.  Jt  is  not  only 
that  God  laid  it  there,    that  Jesus  voluntarily   took  it,    and    more* 


SIN   LAID   ON  JESUS.  317 

over  was  in  such  a  union  with  his  church  that  it  was  natural  that 
lie  should  take  it,  but  you  must  remember  that  this  plan  of  salvation  is 
precisely  similar  to  the  method  of  our  ruin.  How  did  we  fall,  my  brethren? 
Not  by  any  one  of  us  actually  ruining  himself.  I  grant  you  that  our 
own  sin  is  the  ground  of  ultimate  punishment,  but  the  ground  of  our 
original  fall  lay  in  another.  I  had  no  more  to  do  with  my  fall  than-l 
have  to  do  with  my  restoration;  that  is  to  say,  the  fall  which  made  me 
a  sinner  was  wholly  accomplished  long  before  I  was  born  by  the  first 
Adam,  and  the  salvation  by  which  I  am  delivered  was  finished  long 
before  I  saw  the  light  by  the  second  Adam  on  my  behalf.  If  we  grant 
the  fall, — and  we  must  grant  the  fact,  however  we  may  dislike  the  prin- 
ciple,— we  cannot  think  it  unjust  that  God  should  give  us  a  plan  of 
salvation  based  upon  the  same  principle  of  federal  headship.  Perhaps  it  is 
true,  as  has  been  conjectured  by  many,  that  because  the  fallen  angels 
sinned  one  by  one,  there  was  no  possibility  of  their  restoration;  but  man 
sinning,  not  one  by  one  in  the  first  place,  but  transgressing  under  a 
covenant  head,  there  remained  an  opportunity  for  the  restoration  of  the 
race  by  another  covenant  headship.  At  any  rate  we,  accepting  the  prin- 
ciple of  the  federal  headship  in  the  fall,  joyfully  receive  it  as  to  the 
restoration  in  Christ  Jesus.  It  seems  right,  then,  on  these  four  grounds, 
tliat  the  Lord  should  make  the  sins  of  all  his  people  to  meet  upon  Christ. 
4.  I  beg  you  to  observe  in  the  fourth  place,  that  lijing  upon  Christ 
brought  upon  him  all  the  conseque?ices  connected  with  it.  God  cannot 
look  where  there  is  sin  with  any  pleasure,  and  though  as  far  as  Jesus 
is  personally  concerned,  he  is  the  Father's  beloved  Son  in  whom  he  is 
well  pleased;  yet  when  he  saw  sin  laid  upon  his  Son,  he  made  that  Son 
ciy,  "MyGod!  my  God!  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me?"  It  was  not 
possible  that  Jesus  should  enjoy  the  light  of  his  Father's  presence 
while  he  was  made  sin  for  us;  consequently  he  went  through  a  horror 
of  great  darkness,  the  root  and  source  of  which  was  the  withdrawing 
of  the  consfjious  enjoyment  of  his  Father's  presence.  More  than  that, 
not  only  was  light  withdrawn,  but  positive  sorrow  was  inflicted.  God 
must  punish  sin,  and  though  the  sin  was  not  Christ's  by  his  actually 
doing  it,  yet  it  was  laid  upon  him,  and  therefore  he  was  made  a  curse 
for  us.  What  were  the  pangs  which  Christ  endured?  I  cannot  tell 
j'ou.  You  have  read  the  story  of  his  crucifixion.  Dear  friends,  that 
:s  only  the  shell,  but  the  inward  kernel  who  shall  describe?  It  is 
certain  that  Christ  not  only  bore  all  that  humanity  could  bear,  but 
there  was  a  Deity  within  which  added  extraordinary  strength  to  his 
humanity,  and  enabled  it  to  bear  far  more  than  it  would  otherwise  have 
been  able  to  endure.  I  doubt  not  that  in  addition  to  this  the  Godhead 
within  gave  a  peculiar  sensitiveness  to  the  holiness  of  Christ's  nature, 
so  that  sin  must  have  become  even  more  abhorrent  to  him  than  it 
would  have  been  to  a  merely  perfect  man.  His  griefs  are  worthy  to  be 
described  according  to  the  Greek  Liturgy  as  "unknown  sufferings." 
The  height  and  depth,  the  length  and  breadth  of  what  Jesus  Christ 
endured  nor  iieart  can  guess,  nor  tongue  can  tell,  nor  can  imagination 
frame;  God  only  knows  the  griefs  to  whicii  the  Son  of  God  was  put 
when  the  Lord  made  to  nieet  upon  him  the  iniquity  of  us  all.  To  crown 
all  there  came  death  itself.  Peath  is  the  punishment  for  sin,  and  whatever 
it  may  mean,  whatever  over  and  beyond  natural  death  was  intended  in 
I^Ue  seijtence,  *'  Ju  the  4ay  t|ioii  potest  t^er^of  tho»  shalt  surely  die,** 


31S  METROPOTilTAX   TABERXACLE    PULPIT. 

Christ  felt.     Death  went  through  and  through  him,  until  "he  bowc^ 
I  his  head,  and  gave  up  the  ghost."     "He  became  obedient  to  death, 
even  to  the  death  of  the  cross." 

5.  Dear  friends,  for  a  moment  think  of  the  result  of  all  this.  Sin  meets 
on  Christ  and  Christ  is  punished  for  sin,  and  what  then?  Why  then  sin 
is  put  away.  If  the  penalty  be  endured  justice  asks  no  more.  The 
debt  discharged — there  is  no  debt;  the  claim  made  and  the  claim  met 
— the  claim  ceases  to  be.  Though  we  could  not  meet  that  claim  in  our 
proper  persons,  yet  we  have  met  it  in  one  who  is  so  united  and  allied  to 
us  that  we  are  in  him  even  as  Levi  was  in  the  loins  of  Abraham. 
Jesus  himself  also  is  free.  Upon  him  the  gathered  tempest  has  spent 
itself,  and  not  a  single  cloud  lingers  in  the  serene  sky.  Though  the 
waters  came  his  love  has  dried  them  up,  his  suffering  has  opened  the 
gluices,  and  made  the  floods  for  ever  spend  themselves.  Though  the 
bills  were  brought  he  has  honoured  them  all,  and  there  is  not  one 
outstanding  account  against  a  single  soul  for  whom  ho  died  as  a 
substitute. 

6.  We  cannot  close  the  exposition  of  this  verse  without  ]ust  remark- 
ing upon  the  "  7is "  here  intended.  "  The  Lord  hath  laid  on  him  the 
iniquity  of  us  all."  It  is  usually  conceded  by  us  who  hold  the  doctrine 
of  particular  redemption  that  there  was  in  the  death  of  Christ  very  much 
of  generality  and  universality.  We  believe  that  the  atonement  of  Christ 
was  infinite  in  value,  and  that  if  Christ  had  decreed  to  save  every  man 
of  woman  born,  he  need  not  have  suffered  another  pang;  there  was 
sufficient  in  his  atonement  if  he  had  so  willed  it  to  have  redeemed  the 
entire  race.  We  believe  also  that  by  the  death  of  Christ  there  is  a 
general  and  honest  invitation  given  to  every  creature  under  heaven  in 
terms  like  these: — "  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  thou  shalt  be 
saved."  We  are  not  prepared,  however,  to  go  an  inch  beyond  that. 
We  hold  that  from  the  very  nature  of  the  satisfaction  of  Christ  it  could 
not  have  been  made  for  any  but  for  his  elect;  for  Christ  either  did  pay 
the  debts  of  all  men  or  he  did  not;  if  he  did  pay  the  debts  of  all  men 
they  are  paid,  and  no  man  can  be  called  to  account  for  them.  If 
Christ  was  the  surety  of  every  man  living,  then  how  in  the  name  of 
common  justice  is  Christ  to  be  punished,  and  man  punished  too?  If 
it  be  replied  that  the  man  would  not  accept  the  atonement,  then  I  ask 
a^ain,  Was  there  a  satisfaction  given,  for  if  so  it  was  given  whether  tho 
man  accepts  it  or  not,  or  else  satisfaction  by  itself  is  powerless  until 
man  puts  efficacy  in  it,  which  is  preposterous  to  suppose.  If  you  take 
iway  from  us  the  fact  that  Christ  did  really  satisfy  for  those  for  whom  he 
Btood,  we  cry  like  Jacob,  "  If  I  am  bereaved  I  am  bereaved;"  you  have 

^  taken  away  all  that  is  worth  having,  and  what  have  you  given  us  in  its 
place?  You  have  given  us  a  redemption  which  confessedly  does  not 
redeem;  you  have  given  us  an  atonement  which  is  made  equally  for  tho 
lost  in  hell  and  for  the  saved  in  heaven;  and  what  is  the  intrinsic  value 
of  such  an  atonement  ?  If  you  tell  us  that  Christ  made  a  satisfactory 
atonement  for  every  one  of  the  human  race,  we  ask  you  how  it  was  that 
he  made  an  atonement  for  those  that  must  have  been  in  the  flames  of 
hell  thousands  of  years  before  he  came  into  this  world?  My  bretiuen, 
ours  has  the  advantage  of  universality  in  its  proclamation  and  in  its 
bona  fids  offer,  for  there  is  no  man  living  who  shall  believe  in  Jesua 
who  siiall  not  be  saved  by  Christ;  but  it  has  a  greater  advantage  thau 


gIN   LAID  ON  JESUS. 


819 


this-  namely,  that  those  who  do  believe  are  saved  by  it,  and  they  know 
that  Christ  made  such  an  atonement  for  them  that  for  them  to  be 
Dunished  for  sin  would  be  as  much  a  violation  of  justice  as  it  would  of 
mercy  0  my  soul!  thou  knowest  this  day  that  all  thy  sins  were  madt) 
to  meet  on  Christ,  and  that  he  bore  the  punishment  for  them  all. 

"  He  bore  that  we  might  never  bear, 
His  Father's  righteous  ire." 

Here  is  a  rock  to  stand  on,  a  safe  resting-place  for  those  who  trust  in 
Jesus.  As  for  you  who  trust  him  not,  your  blood  be  upon  your  own 
heads'  If  ye  trust  him  not,  ye  have  no  part  nor  lot  in  this  niatfcer,  ye 
shall  ffo  down  to  your  own  punishment  to  bear  it  yourselves;  the  wrath 
of  God  abideth  on  you;  you  shall  find  that  the  blood  of  Jesus  has 
made  no  atonement  for  your  sins.  You  have  rejected  the  invitation 
that  was  given,  and  put  far  from  you  the  cross  of  Christ,  and  upon  your 
heads  the  pardoning  blood  shall  never  drop,  and  for  you  it  shall  never 
plead,  but  you  must  perish  under  the  law,  seeing  you  rcluse  to  be  saved 
under  the  gospel. 

II.  Let  us  come  briefly  to  the  application.  _ 

Dear  hearer,  a  friend  now  puts  a  question  to  you.  There  is  a  countless 
company  whose  sins  the  Lord  Jesus  bore;  did  he  hear  ijours?  Do  you 
wish  to  have  an  answer?  Are  you  unable  to  give  one?  Let  me  read 
this  verse  to  you  and  see  if  you  can  join  in  it.  I  do  not  mean  join 
in  it  saying,  "  That  is  true,"  but  feeling  that  it  is  t-rue  in  your  own 
souls.  "  All  we  like  sheep  have  gone  astray,  we  have  turned  every  one 
to  his  own  way,  and  the  Lord  hath  laid  on  him  the  iniquity  of  us  all." 
If  there  be  in  you  this  morning  a  penitential  confession  which  leads  you 
to  acknowledge  that  you  have  erred  and  strayed  like  a  lost  sheep,  if 
there  be  in  you  a  personal  sense  of  sin  which  makes  you  feel  that  you 
have  turned  to  your  own  way,  and  if  now  you  can  trust  in  Jesus,  then'.a 
second  question  is  not  wanted;  the  Lord  hath  laid  on  him  your  iniquity, 
and  the  iniquity  of  all  such  as  confess  their  sin  and  look  alone  to 
Christ.  But  if  you  will  not  trust  to  Christ,  I  cannot  say  to  you  that 
the  Lord  hath  taken  the  sin  from  you  and  laid  ,it  upon  Christ,  for  in 
ray  soul  I  know  that  living  and  dying  as  you  now  are,  that  sin  of 
yours  will  rise  up  in  judgment  against  you  to  condemn  you.  Dear 
friend,  I  will  venture  to  say  to  you,  are  you  reconciled  to  God's  way  of 
getting  rid  of  sin?  Do  you  feel  any  joy  in  your  heart  at  the  thought 
of  Jesus  bearing  sin  for  you  and  suffering  for  you  ?  If  you  do  not  1 
cannot  offer  you  the  consolation  which  the  text  gives  to  those  who 
submit  to  it.  But  let  me  ask  you,  do  you  mean  to  bear  your  sin 
yourself?  Do  you  know  what  that  means?  Jesus  smarted  when 
he  bore  the  sin  of  his  people,  but  what  a  smart  shall  yours  be  when  you 
bear  your  own!  "  It  is  a  fearful  thing  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the 
liviuf^  God."  There  are  some  now-a-days  who  are  mightily  angry  at 
the  doctrine  of  everlasting  punishment;  I,  too,  might  be  angry  at  it  it 
it  were  an  invention  of  man;  bat  when  it  is  most  certainly  threatened 
in  God's  Book,  it  is  vain  for  me  to  kick  against  the  pricks;  my  question 
should  not  be,  '^low  can  I  dispute  against  it?"  but  "How  can  I 
escape  from  it?"  Dear  hearer,  do  not  venture  into  God's  presence 
with  your  sins  upon  yourself;  even  our  God  is  a  consuming  fire,  and 
his  fury  will  break  forth  against  you  when  you  come  to  stand  there. 


920  METROPOLITAN  TABEUXACLE  PITT.PIT. 

Have  yon  nn  imatjination  tiiat  your  own  merits  may    make  atone- 
ment lor  sin?     I  pray  you  think  what  Christ  had  to  do  before  he  could 
cast  sin  oft"  from  himself,  what  griefs  he  bore,  through  what  an  ocean  of 
wrath  he  passed;  and  do  you  think  that  your  poor  merits,  if  they  bo 
merits,  can  ever  avail  to  do  what  the  Saviour  suffered  so  much  to 
accomplish?      Do  you   hope  to  escape   without   a   punishment?      If 
you  do,  let  me  pray  you  to  think  the  matter  over;  for  if  God  smoto 
his  own  Son,  do  you  think  he  will  permit  you  to  go  scot  free?    If  the 
King  of  Glory,  when  he  only  takes  others'  sins  upon  him,  must  needs 
die,  what  think  you  will  become  of  you,  poor  worm  of  the  dust  ? 
riiink  you  that  God   will  be  unjust  in  order  to  save  you?       Do 
you  suppose  that  he  will  be   hail   fellow,  well  met !   with  you,   and 
revoke  his  own  sentence,  because  you  do  not  choose  to  be  saved  by  a 
plan  which  is  both  just  to  him  and  safe  to  you?     Shall  God  be  unjust 
to  pander  to  your  fancies,  or  indulge  your  lusts?     Sinner,  bow  the  knee 
to  this  plan  of  salvation,  for  be  it  known  to  you — and  I  speak  now, 
knowing  what  I  say,  and  coolly  too — there  is  none  other  plan  of  salvation 
under  heaven.    There  may  be  other  ways  of  salvation  preached,  but 
other  foundation  can  no  man  lay  than  that  which  is  laid,  Jesus  Christ 
the  Righteous.     If  thou  shalt  struggle  after  salvation  individually,  and 
hope  to  get  to  heaven  apart  from  the  headship  of  Christ,  thou  mayest 
struggle,  but  thou  shalt  be  like  the  Jews  of  old,  who  had  a  zeal  for  God 
but  not  according  to  knowledge;  if  thou  shalt  be  going  about  to  establish 
thine  own  righteousness,  but  not  submitting  thyself  to  the  righteousness 
of  Christ,  thou  shalt  perish.    But  let  me  ask  thee,  does  not  this  plan 
commend  itself  to  thee?     If  I  trust  Jesus,  this  is  to  me  the  evidence 
that  he  took  my  sins  and  suffered  in  my  stead.     Oh  the  joy  it  gives 
me!     I  speak  to  you  honestly  of  my  own  experience  now;  there  is  no 
doctrine  that  fires  my  soul  with  such  delight  as  that  of  substitution. 
The  doctrine  of  atonement,  as  it  is  often  preached,  is  a  hazy,  misty 
doing  of  something   by   which  the  law  is  honoured,  or  perhaps  dis- 
honoured, for  I  scarce  know  which  to  call  it;  this  yields  me  no  joy; 
but  when  I  know  that  Christ  was  literally  and  positively,  not  metaphori- 
cally and  by  way  of  figure,  but  literally  and  positively  the  substitute 
for  his  own  people,  and  when  I  know  that  trusting  in  him  I  have  the 
evidence  of  being  one  of  his  people,  why  my  soul  begins  to  say.  Now 
let  me  live!     I'm  clean,  through  Jesu's  blood  I'm  clean.    Now  let  me 
die!  for  I  shall  boldly  stand  in  the  day  of  resurrection,  through  Jesus 
ray  Lord.     Why,  soul,  it  seems  to  me  as  if  it  were  enough  to  make  you 
leap  into  the  arms  of  Christ,  crucified!  covered  with  blood  for  you.' 
disinterestedly  suffering  for  his  own  enemies  that  they  might  live!     Oil 
Stay  not  away! 

"  Come,  guilty  souls,  and  flee  away 
Like  doves  to  Jesu's  wounds  ; 
This  is  the  welcome  gospel-day, 
Wherein  free  grace  abounds. 

God  loved  the  church,  and  gave  his  Son 

To  drink  the  cup  of  wrath  ; 
And  Jesus  says  he'll  cast  out  none 

That  come  to  him  by  faith." 

IJL  Jfow  consecrjitfi  ^  ftjw  jjjjnutes  tq  l^uU^wed  cONjEMPLATpH. 


SIN  LAID  ON  JESUS.  S21 

Yun  do  not  want  talk,  you  want  thought:  I  will  give  you  four  tilings 
to  think  of.  The  first  is  the  aslounding  mass  of  sin  (hat  must  have  been 
laid  on  Christ.  Now  do  not  jump  at  it,  and  say,  "Yes,  the  sins  of  the 
millions  of  his  elect."  Do  not  leap  at  that,  get  at  it  by  degrees.  Begin 
with  your  own  sin.  Have  you  ever  felt  that? — ^your  own  sia.  No,  you 
never  felt  the  full  weight  of  it;  if  you  did  you  would  have  been  in  hell. 
It  is  the  weight  of  sin  that  makes  hell.  Sin  bears  its  own  punishment 
in  its  own  weight.  Do  you  remember  when  you  felt  that  the  pains  of 
hell  gat  hold  upon  you,  and  you  found  trouble  and  sorrow?  That  hour 
■when  you  called  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord,  saying,  "  0  Lord,  I  beseech 
thee,  deliver  my  soul !"  Then  you  only  felt  as  it  were  the  little  end  of 
your  sins,  but  all  your  sins,  what  must  they  weigh!  How  old  are  you? 
You  know  not  how  old  you  may  be  before  you  enter  into  rest,  but  all 
the  sins  of  all  your  years  he  carried.  All  the  sins  against  light  and 
knowledge,  sins  against  law  and  gospel,  week-day  sins.  Sabbath  sins, 
hand  sins,  lip  sins,  heart  sins,  sins  against  the  Father,  sins  against  the 
Son,  sins  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  sins  of  all  shapes,  all  laid  Upon  him; 
can  you  get  the  thought  now?  Now  multiply  that.  Think  of  the  sins 
of  all  the  rest  of  his  people;  persecutions  and  murders  at  the  door  of 
such  an  one  as  Saul  of  Tarsus;  adultery  at  the  door  of  David — sins  of 
every  shape  and  size,  for  God's  elect  have  been  among  the  chief  of  sinners} 
those  whom  he  has  chosen  have  not  been  the  best  of  men  by  nature,  but 
some  of  them  the  very  worst,  and  yet  sovereign  grace  delighted  to  find 
a  home  for  itself  where  seven  devils  had  dwelt  before,  nay,  where  a 
legion  of  devils  held  their  carnival.  Christ  looks  abroad  among  the  sons 
of  men,  and  while  a  Pharisee  is  passed  by,  Zaccheus  the  publican  is 
selected — and  the  sins  of  all  these  with  their  full  weight  laid  upon  him. 
The  weight  of  sin  would  have  crushed  all  these  into  hell  for  ever,  and 
yet  Christ  bore  all  that  weight;  and  what  if  I  venture  to  say  the  very 
eternity  and  infinity  of  wrath  that  was  due  for  all  that  mass  of  sin, 
the  Son  of  God,  marvellously  sustained  by  the  infinity  of  the  Godhead 
within,  bore  and  sustained  the  whole.  I  would  like  to  stop  a  minute 
and  let  you  turn  it  over,  but  when  you  go  home  perhaps  you  will  spend 
half  an  hour  very  profitably  in  thinking  that 

"  The  enormous  load  of  human  guilt 
Was  on  my  Saviour  laid ; 
With  woes  as  with  a  garment  be 
For  sinners  was  array'd." 

2.  The  next  subject  I  offer  you  for  contemplation  is  this,  ih^  amasin^ 
love  of  Jesus  tvhich  brought  him  to  do  all  this.  Remember  Paul's  way 
of  putting  it.  "  Scarcely  for  a  righteous  (or  strictly  just)  man  will  one 
die;  peradventure  for  a  good  (or  benevolent)  man  one  might  even  dare 
to  die;  but  God  commendeth  his  love  towards  us  in  that,  while  we 
were  yet  sinners,  in  due  time,  Christ  died  for  the  ungodly."  When 
Christ  has  renewed  us  by  his  Spirit,  there  may  be  a  temptation  to 
imagine  that  some  excellency  in  us  won  the  Saviour's  heart;  but, 
my  brethren,  you  must  understand  that  Christ  died  for  us  while  we 
were  yet  sinners.  Not  that  infant  washed  and  swaddled,  not  that  fair 
maiden  with  the  jewel  in  her  ear,  and  with  the  pure  golden  crown  upon 
her  head,  not  that  lovely  princess,  presented  like  a  chaste  virgin  to  her 
husband;  no,  that  was  not  what  Jesus  saw  when  he  died.  He  saw  all 
thit  in  the  glass  of  his  prescience,  but  the  actual  condition  of  that  fair 


S22  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE  TULl'IT. 

maid  was  very  different  when  he  died  for  her;  slie  was  cast  ont, 
unwashed,  nnsalted,  unswaddled,  in  her  blood,  a  foul,  filth}'  thing. 
Ah!  my  brethren,  there  is  no  filthy  thing  under  heaven  so  filthy  as  a 
filthy  sinner.  When  there  was  not  a  ray  of  beauty  to  be  discovered 
in  us,  when  neither  witliout  nor  within  a  single  tiling  could  be  found  to 
commend  us,  but  we  were  morally  altogether  abhorrent  to  the  Holy 
nature  of  Christ,  then — oh  wondrous  grace! — he  came  from  the  highest 
heaven  that  the  mass  of  our  sin  might  meet  on  him.  I  met  with  this 
question  the  other  day,  which  seemed  a  novel  one  to  me.  The  question 
was  asked  thus:  "Suppose  you  had  a  child  that  had  the  leprosy,  or 
some  other  foul  disease.  Suppose  this  dear  child  of  yours  was  infected 
and  contaminated  to  the  most  loathsome  degree  in  every  part,  till  the 
eyes  were  blinded  and  the  hands  were  rotting,  and  the  heart  was  turning 
to  stone,  and  the  whole  body  was  covered  with  wounds,  and  bruises,  and 
putrifying  sores.  Now,  suppose  there  were  no  cure  for  this  child  but  for 
your  perfectly  sane  and  healthy  soul,  suppose  it  to  be  such,  to  be 
put  into  that  child's  body,  and  for  you  to  bear  that  child's  diseases 
instead  of  that  child;  would  you  consent  to  it?"  I  can  suppose  a 
mother's  love  yielding  even  to  that;  but  the  more  disgusted  you  had 
been  with  those  putrifying  sores,  the  more  terrible  Avould  the  task 
become.  Now,  that  only  touches  the  fringe  of  the  work  which  Jesus 
did  for  us  when  he  himself  took  our  sins  and  bore  our  sicknesses. 
Such  a  wonderful  union  is  there  between  Christ  and  the  sinner  that 
I  venture  to  say  there  are  some  expressions  in  the  New  Testament 
and  in  the  Old  with  regard  to  Christ's  connection  with  the  sin  of  man 
that  I  would  not  dare  to  use  except  as  direct  quotations  from  Holy 
Writ;  but  being  there  you  shall  see  how  wondrously  the  love  of  Jesus 
[Christ  induced  him  to  take  upon  himself  our  sad  condition  and  plight. 
Bub,  oh  the  love!  oh  the  love!  Nay,  I  will  not  speak  of  it;  ye  must 
muse  upon  it.  Silence  is  sometimes  the  best  eloquence;  and  it  will 
be  best  for  me  to  say  to  you,  oh  the  depths  of  the  love  of  Jesus! 
unsearchable,  past  finding  out!  God  over  all,  blessed  for  ever,  should 
have  laid  on  him  the  iniquity  of  us  all! 

3.  AVonder  of  wonders  that  I  need  another  minute  to  set  you  think- 
ing on  another  subject,  tlie  matchless  security  loliich  this  plan  of  salvation 
offers.  I  do  not  see  in  what  point  that  man  is  vulnerable  wlio  can  feel 
and  know  that  Christ  has  borne  his  sin.  I  look  at  the  attributes  of  God, 
and  though  to  me,  as  a  sinner,  they  all  seem  bristling  as  with  sharp 
points,  thrusting  themselves  upon  me;  yet  when  I  know  that  Jesus  died 
for  me,  and  did  literally  take  my  sin,  what  fear  I  the  attributes  of  God? 
There  is  justice,  sharp  and  bright,  like  a  lance;  but  justice  is  my  friend. 
If  God  be  just,  he  cannot  punish  me  for  sin  for  which  Jesus  has  offered 
satisfaction.  As  long  as  there  is  justice  in  the  heart  of  Deity,  it  cannot 
be  that  a  soul  justly  claiming  Christ  as  his  substitute  can  himself  be 
punished.  As  for  mercy,  love, .  truth,  honour,  everything  matchless, 
Godlike  and  divine  about  Deity,  I  say  of  all  these,  "  You  are  my  friends; 
you  are  all  guarantees  that  since  Jcsns  died  for  me  I  cannot  die." 
JIow  grandly  does  the  apostle  put  it!  It  seems  to  me  as  if  he  never 
was  worked  up  by  the  Huly  Spirit  to  such  a  pitch  of  eloquence  as  when 
speaking  about  the  death  and  resurrection  of  the  Savioui',  he  pro- 
pounds that  splendid  question,  "  AVho  shall  lay  anything  to  the 
charge  of  God's  elect?"    There,  where  eternal  justice  sits  upon  a  flarainjj 


fllW  LAID  ON  Jf.sm.  323 

throne,  the  apostle  gazes  with  eye  undimmed  into  the  ineffable  splendour, 
and  thoujjh  some  one  seems  to  say,  "  The  Judge  will  condemn,"  ho 
replies,  "  Who  shall  lay  anything  to  the  charge  of  God's  elect?  It  is 
God  that  justifieth."  Can  he  justify  and  then  condemn  us?  He  justifies 
those  for  whom  Christ  died,  for  we  are  justified  by  his  resurrection. 
How  then  shall  he  condemn?  And  then  he  lifts  up  his  voice  yet  again — 
""Who  is  he  that  condemneth?  It  is  Christ  that  died,  yea,  rather  that 
is  risen  again,  who  sitteth  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  who  also  maketh 
intercession  for  us."  On  other  grounds  a  man  must  feel  unsafe,  but  here 
he  may  know  himself  sure.  Go  ye  that  will,  and  build  upon  your  sandy 
foundations;  run  up  your  superstructures  till  they  are  as  high  as  Babel'g 
tower,  and  tumble  about  your  ears  unable  to  support  their  own  weight; 
but  as  for  me,  my  soul  shall  rest  upon  this  solid  rock  of  substitution; 
and  clinging  to  the  rock  with  confident  resolve,  I  know  that  I  have  no 
cause  for  fear  since  Jesus  died  for  me. 

4.  Lastly,  I  desire  to  give  you  as  a  subject  for  contemplation,  and 
I  pray  you  do  not  forget  it,  this  question,  What  then  are  the  claims  of 
Jesus  Christ  upo7i  you  and  xqjon  me?  Brethren  and  sisters,  I  have  some- 
times wished  to  be  eloquent;  never  when  I  had  a  cause  to  plead  in 
which  I  was  myself  involved,  but  when  I  have  had  to  speak  for  Jesus. 
But  indeed,  there  is  no  need  of  eloquence  here.    Your  hearts  shall  be 
the  pleaders,  his  agonies  shall  be  the  plea.     Did  our  blessed  Lord  take 
your  sin,  my  brethren,  and  suffer  all  its  terrific  consequences  for  you,  so 
that  you  are  delivered.    By  his  blood  and  wounds,  by  his  death,  and  by 
the  love  that  made  him  die,  I  conjure  you  treat  him  as  he  should  be 
treated!    Love  him  as  he  should  be  loved!    Serve  him  as  he  should  be 
served!     You  will  tell  me  that  you  have  obeyed  his  precepts.    I  am  glad 
to  hear  it.    Are  you  sure  that  you  have?     "  If  ye  love  me,  keep  my 
commandments."      Have   you    kept   the   ordinances   as    he   delivered 
them?     Have  you  sought  to  be  obedient  to  him  in  all  respects?     In 
all  your  Lord's  appointed  ways  have  you  scrupulously  pursued  your 
journey?     If  you  can  say  this  I  am  not  content;  it  does  not  seem  to 
me  that  with  such  a  leader  as  Christ  mere  obedience  should  be  all. 
Napoleon  singularly  enough  had   power   to  get   the   hearts  of  men 
twisted  and  twined  about  him;  Avhen  he  was  in  his  wars  there  were 
many  of  his  captains  and  even  of  his  private  soldiers  who  not  only 
marched  with   the  quick  obedience    of  a  soldier  wherever  they  were 
bidden,  but  who  felt  an  enthusiasm  for  him.     Have  you  never  heard 
of  him  who  threw  himself  in  the  way  of  the  shot  to  receive  it  in  his 
bosom  to  save  the  Emperor?    No  obedience,  no  law  could  have  re- 
quired that  of  him,  but  enthusiastic  love  moved  him  to  it;  and  it  ia 
such  enthusiasm  that  my  Master  deserves  in  the  very  highest  degree 
from  us.     It  is  out  of  and  beyond  all  categories  of  law,  it  is  far  exceed* 
ing  all  that  law  ventured  to  ask,  and  yet  not  supererogation  for  all 
that,  for  ye  are  not  under  tlie  law  but  under  grace;  and  ye  will  do  mor^ 
out  of  love  than  ye  Avould  have  done  out  of  the  compulsion  of  demand. 
AVhat  shall  I  do  for  ray  Master?     What  shall  I  do  for  my  Lord?     How 
ehall  I  set  him  forth?     My  brethren  and  sisters,  my  highest  aim  before 
God,  next  to  the  conversion  of  the  unconverted  among  yon,  is  this,  tha< 
you  who  do  love  Christ  may  really  love  him  and  act  as  if  you  did.     1 
hope  you  will  never  become  a  dead  cold  church.     Oh  may  my  ministry 
never  help  to  lull  you  into  such  a  stale  as  that!     If  Jesus  Chrigt  does 


321  METUOI'OLITAN  TABERNACLE  PULPIT. 

not  deserve  evarythinj^  of  you  he  does  not  deserve  anything;  you  d<: 
not  know  anything  of  his  claims  if  you  do  not  feel  that 

"  If  you  could  make  some  reserve, 
And  duty  did  not  call  ; 
You  lore  the  Lord  with  zeal  so  grea- 
That  you  must  give  him  all." 

Christ  stands  for  me,  oh  may  I  learn  to  stand  for  him,  and  plead  for  him, 
and  live  for  him,  and  suifer  for  him,  and  pray  for  him,  and  preach  and 
labour  for  him  as  he  may  help  me!  May  I  remind  you  each  individually 
as  you  all  followed  your  own  way,  and  individually  had  some  sin  U 
increase  that  burden,  pay  him  individual  service?  Contribute  of  yout 
substance  to  the  common  work  of  the  church,  and  do  that  constantly, 
and  as  a  matter  of  delight.  Our  College  which  is  doing  so  much 
service  greatly  needs,  and  demands  the  help  of  all  who  love  our  work, 
and  love  the  Lord's  truth.  But  in  addition  to  that,  do  something  for 
yourself,  speak  for  Christ  yourself,  have  some  work  in  hand  on  your 
own  account.  Do,  I  say  again,  at  all  times  assist  the  work  of  the 
combined  body,  for  that  will  be  a  great  work,  God  being  in  us  as  our 
life  and  stay,  and  let  no  man  withhold  of  his  substance  from  Christ's 
cause;  but  still  that  is  not  all,  he  does  not  ask  your  pocket  only 
but  your  heart.  It  is  not  the  pence,  it  is  the  activities  of  the  soul ;  it 
is  not  the  shillings  and  the  guineas  and  so  on,  but  it  is  your  very  inmost 
soul,  the  core  of  your  spirit.  0  Christian,  by  the  blood  of  Jesus  devote 
yourself  to  him  again!  In  the  old  Roman  battles  it  sometimes  happened 
that  the  strife  seemed  dubious,  and  a  captain  inspired  by  superstitious 
patriotism  would  stand  upon  his  sword  and  devote  himself  to  destruction 
for  the  good  of  his  country,  and  then,  according  to  those  old  legends,  the 
battle  always  turned.  Now,  men  and  brethren,  sisters,  every  one  of  you 
who  have  tasted  that  the  Lord  is  gracious,  devote  yourselves  this  day 
to  live,  to  die,  to  spend,  and  to  be  spent  for  King  Jesus.  You  will  be 
no  fool,  for  no  man  ever  had  an  ambition  more  worthy.  You  will  not  be 
devoting  yourself  to  one  who  does  not  deserve  it.  You  know  how  much 
you  owe  him;  nay,  you  do  not  know,  to  the  fullest  extent,  the  depth  of 
your  obligation,  but  you  know  yon  owe  him  all  that  you  have;  your  escnpe 
from  hell  and  your  hope  of  heaven.  Follow  me  this  morning  in  these 
Tcrses — 

'•  'Tis  done,  the  great  transaction's  done  \ 

I  am  my  Lord's,  and  he  is  mine  : 

He  drew  me,  and  I  follow'd  on, 

Charm'd  to  confess  the  voice  divine. 

Now  rest,  my  long-divided  heart ; 
Fix'd  on  this  blissful  centre  rest ; 
With  ashes  who  would  grudge  to  part, 
When  call'd  on  angel's  bread  to  feast  ? 

High  heaven,  that  heard  the  solemn  vow, 
That  vow  renew'd  shall  daily  hear ; 
Till  in  life's  latest  hour  I  bow, 
And  bless  in  death  a  bond  so  dear." 


PuuTiON  OP  Scripture  read  before  Sermon— Isaiah  liii. 


|ltftr0]jalita«  Snkiiuarle  |iul|jit. 


& 


ONLY  TEUST  HIM!  ONLY  TEUST  HIM  I 


Delivered  on  liOiic's-DAY  Evening,  June  26th,  1881,  by 

C.    H.    SPURGEON, 

AT  THE  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACJiE,   NEWINGTON. 


"  And  as  he  entered  into  a  certain  village,  there  met  him  ten  men  that  were  lepers, 
which  stood  afar  ofE :  and  they  lifted  up  their  voices,  and  said,  Jesus,  Master,  have 
mercy  on  us.  And  when  he  saw  them,  he  said  unto  them.  Go  show  j'oiirsGlves  unto 
the  priests.  And  it  came  to  pass,  that,  as  they  went,  they  were  cleansed.'' — Luke  xvii. 
12—14. 

Several  interesting  topics  might  fairly  be  found  in  these  verses.  "We 
see  here  the  abounding  fruit  of  sin,  for  here  Avere  ten  lepers  in  a  group, 
and  the  abundance  of  divine  power  to  meet  it,  for  they  were  all  cleansed. 
So  also  we  see  how  Christ  must  come  first,  and  ceremonies  second :  first 
the  work  of  grace,  and  then  the  outward  showing  of  it.  The  Lord'a 
tenderness  towards  outcasts,  his  attention  to  prayers  from  a  distance, 
and  his  regard  for  the  ceremonial  law  so  long  as  it  was  in  force,  might 
each  one  yield  an  instructive  meditation.  I  have,  however,  only  one 
thought  which  I  wish  to  bring  under  your  notice,  and  to  press  upon 
you,  perhaps  almost  to  repetition  and  monotony.  That  thought  I  would 
engrave  as  with  an  iron  pen  upon  the  hearts  and  minds  of  all  here  present 
who  desire  to  find  eternal  salvation.  May  the  Holy  Ghost  imprint  it 
upon  every  living  soul. 

These  ten  lepers  were  required  by  the  Saviour  to  perform  an  act  of 
faith  in  him  before  they  had  the  slightest  evidence  in  themselves  that 
he  had  wrought  a  good  work  upon  them.  Before  they  began  to  feel 
their  foul  blood  cleansed,  before  the  horrible  dryness  of  leprosy  had 
yielded  to  healthy  perspiration,  they  were  to  go  towards  the  house  in 
which  the  priest  lived  to  be  examined  by  him  and  to  be  pronounced 
clean.  They  were  to  exhibit  faith  in  Christ  Jesus's  power  to  heal  them 
by  going  to  exhibit  themselves  as  healed,  though  as  yet  they  were  in 
the  same  condition  as  before.  They  were  to  start  to  the  place  where 
they  should  be  examined  by  the  priest,  believing  that  Jesus  had  healed 
them,  or  would  heal  them,  though,  as  yet,  they  had  no  internal  evidence 
whatever  that  their  flesh  should  become  as  that  of  a  little  child.  This  is 
the  point  I  wish  to  dwell  upon — that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  bids  sinners 
believe  in  him,  and  trust  their  souls  to  him,  though  they  may  not  yet 
discern  in  themselves  any  work  of  his  grace.  Just  as  these  men  were 
kpcrs,  and  nothintr  bat  lepers,  so  you  may  be  sinners,  and  nothing  but 
No.  IjGoj. 


702  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE  PULPIT. 

Binnera,  and  yet  you  are  bidden  to  exhibit  faith  in  Jesas  Christ  while 
you  are  just  what  you  are.  As  these  men  were  to  start  straight  away 
to  the  priest  with  all  their  leprosy  white  upon  them,  and  to  go  there 
as  if  they  felt  they  were  already  healed,  so  are  you,  with  all  your 
sinnership  upon  you,  and  your  sense  of  condemnation  heavy  on  your 
soul,  to  believe  in  Jesus  Christ  just  as  you  are,  and  you  shall  find  ever- 
lasting life  upon  the  spot.  This  is  my  point,  and  it  is  of  the  first  im- 
portance. Sinners,  as  sinners,  are  to  believe  in  Jesus  for  everlasting 
life.  The  voice  to  each  one  of  them  is,  "  Awake,  thou  that  sleepest,  and 
arise  from  the  dead,  and  Christ  shall  give  thee  life." 

Now,  first,  I  shall  notice  ivhat  signs  are  commonhj  loolcedfor  hj  uncon- 
verted men  as  reasoiis  for  helieving  in  Christ;  which,  indeed,  are  no 
reasons  at  all:  then,  secondly,  I  shall  try  to  show  what  is  the  real 
ground  and  reason  for  faith  in  Christ ;  and,  thirdly,  ivluit  will  be  t/te 
issue  of  a  faith  in  Christ  similar  to  that  of  the  lepers. 

I.  First,  then,  I  say  that  we  are  to  believe  in  Jesus  Christ — to  trust 
him  to  heal  us  of  the  great  disease  of  sin — though  as  yet  we  may  have 
about  us  no  sign  or  token  that  he  has  wrought  any  good  work  upon 
us.  AYe  are  not  to  look  for  signs  and  evidences  within  ourselves  before 
we  venture  our  souls  upon  Jesus.  The  contrary  supposition  is  a  soul- 
destroying  error,  and  I  will  try  to  expose  it  by  showing  what  are  the 

SIGNS  THAT   ARE    COMMONLY   LOOKED   FOR   BY   MEN. 

One  of  the  most  frequent  is  a  consciousness  of  great  sin,  and  a  horrible 
dread  of  divine  wrath,  leading  to  despair.  Strange  to  say,  we  constantly 
meet  with  persons  who  say,  "I  could  believe  in  Jesus  Christ  if  I 
felt  more  burdened  by  a  sense  of  sin.  I  could  trust  him  if  I  were 
driven  more  entirely  to  despondency  and  to  despair  ;  but  I  am  not 
depressed  enough  ;  I  am  not  broken-hearted  enough ;  I  am  sure  I  am  not 
brought  low  enough,  and  therefore  I  cannot  trust  Christ."  Strange  notion, 
that  if  the  night  were  darker  we  should  see  the  better !  Strange  idea,  that 
if  we  were  nearer  death  we  should  have  better  hope  of  life !  Now,  my 
friend,  you  are  speaking  and  acting  in  distinct  disobedience  to  Christ ; 
for  he  would  have  you  trust  himself,  not  on  the  ground  of  your 
feeling  much  or  little,  or  on  the  ground  of  your  feeling  anything 
at  all,  but  simply  because  you  are  sick  and  he  has  come  to  heal 
you,  and  is  abundantly  able  to  work  your  cure.  If  you  say,  "Lord, 
1  cannot  trust  thee  unless  I  feel  this  or  that,"  then  you,  in  effect,  say, 
"  I  can  trust  my  own  feelings,  but  I  cannot  trust  God's  appointed 
Saviou':."  AVhat  is  this  but  to  make  a  god  out  of  your  feelings,  and  a 
saviour  out  of  your  inward  griefs?  Is  your  own  heart  to  save  you  by  its 
dark  insinuations  against  divine  love  ?  Is  unbelief,  after  all,  to  bring 
you  salvation  because  you  refuse  to  believe  your  God  ?  And  despair — 
wicked  despair,  which  gives  the  lie  to  God — is  that  to  be  trusted  in,  and 
not  the  Saviour  whom  God  has  sent  into  the  world  to  save  sinners  ? 
Is  there,  then,  a  new  gospel,  and  does  it  run,  **  He  that  denies  the  power 
of  Jesus  and  despairs  of  his  love  shall  be  saved"? 

You  know  tliat  Jesus  justifies  the  ungodly,  and  cleanses  the  wicked 
from  t.ieir  sin  through  his  precious  blood  ;  and  though  you  know  this 
to  be  true,  you  say, "  I  cannot  trust  the  Crucified,  I  cannot  rely  upon  his 
full  atonement  unless  I  feel  my  guilt  to  be  unpardonable,  and  dis* 
believe  my  God."     I  pray  that  you  may  never  feel  as  you  foolishly 


ONLY  TRUST  UIM!     ONLY  TRUST  IILM !  "703 

think  you  ought  to  feel ;  for  feelings  of  despair  dishonour  the  Lord  and 
vex  his  Spirit,  and  certainly  cannot  be  good  for  you.  It  comes  to  this 
— that  you  are  making  a  god  of  your  despair,  and  a  Christ  out  of 
your  horrors,  and  so  you  are  setting  up  an  antichrist  in  the  place  where 
Christ  alone  should  be.  Come,  young  friend,  though  you  have  not  been 
terrified  and  alarmed  and  heart-broken  to  the  extent  of  some,  will  you 
trust  Christ  with  your  soul,  and  ask  no  questions  ?  I  pray  you,  trust 
Jesus  once  for  all. 

"  Cast  thy  guilty  soul  on  him, 

Find  him  mighty  to  redeem  ; 

At  his  feet  thy  burden  lay  ; 

Look  thy  doubts  and  cares  away  ; 

Now  by  faith  the  Son  embrace ; 

Plead  his  promise,  trust  his  grace." 

That  is  the  point.  Can  you  trust  Jesus  ?  for  that  is  what  he  bids  you 
do.  How  strange  it  seems  that  anyone  should  raise  a  question  about 
trusting  him  !  How  insane  and  insulting  to  be  willing  to  trust  our 
leelings  and  not  trust  the  Saviour  !  These  ten  lepers  felt  no  change 
whatever  wrought  upon  them  when  Jesus  bade  them  go  off  to  be  examined 
by  the  priest ;  yet  away  they  went,  and  as  they  went  they  were  made 
whole.  Trust  Jesns  Christ  just  as  you  are,  without  those  feelings 
which  you  have  hitherto  supposed  to  be  necessary  as  a  sort  of  pre- 
paration. Trust  him  at  once,  and  follow  him,  and  he  will  make  you 
whole  before  you  have  taken  many  steps  in  the  path  of  faith  and  obe- 
dience. 0  Lord  God,  lead  all  my  hearers  and  readers  to  trust  thy  Son 
at  once. 

Many  other  persons  think  that  they  must,  before  they  can  trust 
Christ,  experience  quite  a  blaze  of  joy.  "  Oh,"  says  one,  "  I  heard 
a  Christian  say  that  when  he  found  the  Saviour  he  was  so  happy  that  he 
did  not  know  how  to  contain  himself,  and  he  sang  like  a  whole  band 
of  music  in  one — 

'  Happy  day,  happy  day, 
AVhen  Jesus  washed  my  sins  away,' 

Oil  that  I  could  be  as  full  of  joy  as  these  '  happy  day'  people !"  Just  so. 
But  what  mischief  will  you  make  out  of  that  ?  Are  you  going  to  find 
evil  even  in  our  delights?  Will  you  feed  your  unbelief  on  the  joy  of 
the  Lord  ?  What  strange  perversity !  "  Why,"  you  say,  "  must  I  not 
be  happy  before  I  can  believe  in  Christ?"  What  ?  What  ?  Must  you 
needs  have  the  joy  before  you  exercise  the  faith  ?  How  unreasonable ! 
Because  we  tell  you  that  such  and  such  a  root  produces  a  sweet  fruit, 
will  you  say  that  you  must  have  the  fruit  before  you  will  accept  the 
root?  Surely  that  is  bad  reasoning.  We  who  have  experienced  this 
joy  came  to  Christ  in  order  to  obtain  it,  and  did  not  wait  until  wc 
found  it,  or  else  we  should  have  waited  until  now.  We  came  to  Jesus 
just  as  we  were:  some  of  us  were  very  wretched,  but  we  came  just  as 
we  then  were,  and  we  trusted  Christ,  and  we  were  made  whole.  Then 
followed  joy  and  peace ;  but  if  we  had  waited  till  we  felt  joy  and  peace 
before  we  came,  we  should  have  been  standing  out  against  the  gospel 
plan,  which  is,  that  men  are  to  trust  the  Saviour  before  they  feel  the 
slightest  benefit  from  him.     0  sinner,  is  not  this  common  sense  ?    Must 


701  METROPOLITAN   TABERNACLE  PULPIT. 

we  not  take  medicine  before  we  are  cured  by  it?  must  we  not  eat 
bread  before  it  removes  our  hanger?  Must  we  not  open  our  eyes  befors 
we  see?  Before  the  Lord  Jesus  has  either  comforted  you  or  healed 
you  consciously,  you  arc  to  come  and  just  do  what  he  bids  you,  and 
trust  in  him  to  save  you.  Neither  the  gloom  of  horror  nor  the  blaze 
of  delight  is  to  be  looked  for  before  faith,  but  faith  is  to  precede  all 
and  that  faith  is  a  simple,  humble  reliance  upon  Christ. 

We  have  known  others  who  ha^e  expected  to  have  a  text  impressed 
upon  their  minds.  A  kind  of  superstition  has  grown  up  that  a  special 
scripture  must,  somehow  or  other,  hover  over  the  mind,  and  continue 
there,  so  that  you  cannot  get  rid  of  it,  and  then  you  may  hope  that  you 
are  saved.  In  old  famihes  there  are  superstitions  about  white  birds 
coming  to  a  window  before  a  death,  and  I  regard  with  much  the 
same  distrust  the  more  common  superstition  that  if  a  text  continues 
upon  your  mind  day  after  day  you  may  safely  conclude  that  it  is  an  as- 
surance of  your  salvation.  I  hope  I  have  never  taught  you  to  draw  any 
such  a  conclusion.  Far  be  it  from  me  to  assist  you  into  a  confidence 
which  has  so  questionable  a  foundation.  The  Spirit  of  God  often 
does  apply  Scripture  with  power  to  the  soul ;  but  this  fact  is  never 
set  forth  as  the  rock  for  us  to  build  upon.  Will  you  find  anything  in 
the  Bible  to  support  the  supposition  that  the  vivid  recollection  of  a 
text  is  a  seal  of  conversion?  It  has  often  happened  that  some  word  of 
God  does  greatly  comfort  the  soul ;  but  why  should  you  demand  the 
same?  Have  you  any  right  to  say,  "  I  Avill  not  believe  God's  word 
unless  he  impresses  it  upon  me" ?  Is  it  a  lie,  then?  "No,  it  is  true," 
say  you.  Remember,  if  it  is  not  true,  an  impression  upon  your  mind 
would  not  make  it  true,  and  if  it  is  true,  why  do  you  not  believe  it? 
If  it  is  true,  accept  it.  If  there  be  any  force  about  a  promise,  pray 
God  to  make  you  feel  its  force  and  power;  but  you  ought  to  feel  its 
force  and  power,  and  if  you  do  not,  sin  lies  at  your  door.  As  a  reader 
of  the  Scriptures  you  must  not  fall  into  the  idea  that  you  are  to  wait 
till  some  Scripture  burns  its  way  into  your  soul ;  but  you  must  read 
attentively,  and  believe  what  the  Lord  God  says  to  you.  Furthermore, 
I  would  have  you  remember,  it  is  not  reading  the  Scripture  that  saves 
you ;  it  is  believing  in  Christ.  What  did  Christ  himself  say  ?  He  said 
to  the  Bible  readers  of  his  day,  "  Ye  search  the  Scriptures,  for  in  them 
ye  think  ye  have  eternal  life;  but  ye  will  not  come  unto  me  that  ye 
might  have  life."  Good  as  the  searching  of  Scripture  is,  it  is  nothing 
without  coming  to  Christ.  You  will  only  read  your  own  condemna- 
tion in  the  Bible  if  you  remain  out  of  Christ.  Even  the  Bible  itself 
may  be  made  into  a  stumbling-block  if  you  substitute  Bible-reading 
for  closing  in  with  Christ  and  putting  your  trust  in  him.  Your  iiniue- 
diate  business  is  to  trust  .Jesus,  and  no  measure  of  reading  will  com- 
pensate for  neglect  of  faith.  What  if  no  special  text  of  Scripture 
were  ever  laid  home  to  your  heart  at  all,  yet  here  it  stands,  "  Believe  iu 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  thou  shalt  be  saved."  That  is  your  busi- 
ness, my  dear  hearer,  if  you  are  to  get  peace  at  once ;  and  I  earnestly 
hope  that  some  of  you  are  going  to  get  it  before  this  sermon  is  over.  I  have 
asked  your  souls  of  my  God,  and  I  have  got  them  for  a  prey  to-night. 
They  shall  be  David's  spoil,  and  you  shall  be  led  in  chains  of  grace  to 
Jesas.    Who  among  you  will  put  his  trust  iu  Jesus  ?  for,  if  you  do  so, 


OHLT  TRUST   IIIM!      ONLY   TRUST   HIM!  705 

you  shall  surely  find  eternal  salvation  the  moment  you  believe  in  his  deai 
name. 

There  is  another  way  in  which  some  men  try  to  get  off  believing  in 
Christ,  and  that  is,  they  expect  an  actual  conveision  to  he  manifest  in  them 
before  they  will  trust  the  Saviour.     Now,  understand  that  Christ  has 
wrought  salvation  in  no  man  who  is  unconverted.   There  must  be  a  perfect 
taming  round  of  us — a  complete  conversion  from  sin  to  holiness.     But 
that  is  salvation,  and  not  a  preparation  for  salvation.  Conversion  is  the 
manifestation  of  Christ's  healing  power.     But  you  are  not  to  have  this 
before  you  trust  him ;  you  are  to  trust  him  for  this  very  thing.    When 
a  man  with  a  disease  goes  to  an  eminent  physician,  does  he  say,  "  Doctor, 
I  will  trust  you  with  my  case  when  I  have  reached  a  certain  stage  "? 
"  Nay,"  says  the  physician,  **if  you  have  reached  that  state  you  will  be 
in  a  fair  way  of  healing,  and  you  Avon't  want  me."     Your  wisest  plan  ia 
to  go  to  your  physician  just  as  you  are  ;  and  if  you  can  be  sure  that  he 
is  an  infallible  healer,  just  put  yourself  into  his  hands  as  if  you  knew 
nothing,  and  he  knew  everything,  and  as  if  you  would  not  have  a  will 
or  way  in  it,  but  would  leave  yourself  entirely  with  him.     That  is  the 
thing  to  do  with  the  Lord  Jesus,  the  infallible  Physician  of  the  souls  of 
men.    Why,  you  poor  wretched  sinner,  you  say,  "  I  am  not  a  saint.     I 
cannot  be  saved."    Who  said  you  were  a  saint  ?     It  is  Christ's  work  to 
make  you  into  a  saint.     "  Oh,  but  I  do  not  repent  as  I  should."    It  is 
Christ's  work  to  make  you  repent  as  you  should,  and  to  him  you  must 
come  for  repentance.  "Oh,  but  my  heart  won't  break."    It  is  Christ  who 
is  to  break  your  heart— not  you  who  are  to  break  it,  and  then  come  to 
him  with  it  ready  broken.    Come  to  Jesus  just  as  you  are,  with  your 
hard,  stony,  senseless  heart,  and  trust  that  and  everything  else  to  his 
saving  power.     "I  do  not  seem  even  to  have  a  strong  desire,"  says  one. 
Christ  himself  gives  every  spiritual  desire  by  his  Holy  Spirit.     He  is  a 
Saviour  that  begins  the  alphabet  of  mercy  at  A.     He  does  not  ask  you 
to  get  as  far  as  B,  C,  D,  and  promise  then  to  meet  you  ;  but  he  begins 
at  the  beginning.     The  good  Samaritan  when  he  found  the  man  beaten  by 
the  thieves  came  where  he  ivas.    That  is  what  Jesus  does.     He  does 
not  say,  *'  Now,  then,  you  wounded  man,  get  up,  and  come  to  me,  and  I 
will  pour  the  oil  and  wine  into  you."      No ;  but  he  goes  where  the 
wounded  one  lies  in  utter  helplessness,  stoops  over  him,  removes  his 
rags,  cleanses  his  wounds,  pours  in  the  oil  and  wine,  and  lifts  him  up, 
and  bears  him  to  the  house  of  mercy.     Poor  soul !     My  Master  is  not  a 
half  Saviour,  but  a  whole  one  ;  and  if  you  are  lying  at  the  gates  of  death, 
hard  by  the  doors  of  hell,  he  is  as  able  to  save  you  as  if  you  were  sitting 
on  the  doorstep  of  heaven.     Just  where  you  are,  and  as  you  are,  trust 
Christ  to  save  you,  and  you  shall  be  saved.    Do  not  look  for  conversion 
first,  but  expect  it  as  the  result  of  faith. 

We  have  known  some  who  have  had  a  very  curious  idea,  which  I  can 
hardly  put  into  words,  namely,  that  if  they  were  to  be  sa7ed  they  would 
experience  some  very  singular  sensation.  They  could  belieV3  in  Christ  if 
they  felt  in  a  mysterious  fashion.  It  is  rather  difficult  to  understand 
people,  but  when  I  have  been  talking  to  some  enquirers  I  have  thought 
that  they  expected  even  a  physical  sensation — a  sensation  within  their 
bodies.  I  remember  one  saying  to  me,  "  Sir,  I  was  quite  sure  I  was 
saved,  for  I  felt  so  light."     Poor  simpleton,  what  does  it  matter  whether 


706  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE   PULPIT. 

you  felt  lijjht  or  heavy!  What  has  that  to  do  witk  it?  Perhaps  you 
were  light-headed,  or  half  out  of  your  mind  with  absurd  excitement. 
Beware  of  such  nonsense.  To  feel  light  may  be  interpreted  into  being 
weighed  in  the  balances  and  found  wanting  ;  it  is  a  sensation  which 
may  frighten  as  much  as  console.  "  Oh,"  says  one,  *'  but  I  felt  so 
singular."  Yes,  and  many  who  are  now  in  Bedlam  could  say  the  same. 
What  does  it  matter  what  you  felt  ?  It  is  not  feeling  that  will  save  you. 
Believing  on  Jesus  will  bring  you  the  blessings  of  grace;  but  strange 
feelings  may  be  produced  by  what  you  have  eaten,  or  by  the  weather, 
or  by  hysteria,  or  a  hundred  other  things.  Do  you  not  know  that  when 
politics  are  being  discussed,  or  when  some  other  subject  is  under  dispute, 
an  earnest  orator  will  often  stir  men  with  excitement  till  their  flesh 
creeps?  But  what  of  that  '  Excitement  does  not  save  anybody.  Many 
are  melted  to  tears  by  a  novel  or  a  play ;  but  what  is  the  benefit  ?  You 
may  be  mov^^d  with  religious  excitement,  and  half  the  emotion  may  be 
purely  physical,  and  there  may  be  nothing  of  the  grace  of  God  in  it. 
The  wiser  way  is  calmly  to  sit  down  and  say,  "  Here  is  God's  way  of 
salvation — salvation  through  his  crucified  Son,  Jesus  Christ ;  and  he 
has  promised  that  if  I  trust  his  Son  he  will  save  me  from  sinning,  and 
make  a  new  man  of  me,  and  heal  me  of  my  spiritual  diseases.  I  will 
trust  him,  for  I  am  sure  that  the  witness  of  God  is  true."  By  that 
simple  and  deliberate  act  of  faith  you  are  saved ;  the  power  to  believe 
your  God  is  the  evidence  that  the  cure  has  begun,  and  begun  well.  If 
you  have,  indeed,  trusted  him,  Jesus  has  undertaken  your  case,  and  he 
will  save  you. 

The  very  fact  that  you  can  and  do  believe  has  within  it  the  essential 
force  by  which  you  will  be  delivered  from  the  alienation  of  your  mind. 
He  that  believes  God  is  no  longer  an  enemy  to  him.  Those  whom  we 
trust  we  soon  learn  to  love.  This,  you  see,  demands  no  singular 
sensation  or  excitement ;  this  is  plain  and  clear  enough.  "  But  must 
we  not  be  born  again  ?  "  says  one.  Yes,  truly  ;  and  he  that  believes  in 
Christ  is  born  again.  Though  as  yet  he  knows  it  not,  the  first  mark  of 
life  is  within  his  .soul,  for  the  first  sure  token  of  spiritual  lite  is  trusting 
Jesus  Christ  alone.  The  best  evidence  is  not  trusting  marks,  signs, 
evidences,  inward  feelings,  impressions,  and  so  on;  but  just  getting  out 
of  that  and  trusting  Jesus.  There  lies  the  essence  of  the  saving  change, 
the  getting  from  self  to  the  Lord  God  in  Christ  Jesus.  A  certain  mariner 
has  a  fine  anchor,  one  of  the  best  constructed  anchors  ever  used  in  the 
navy.  He  has  it  on  board  his  ship,  and  yet  it  is  not  a  pennyworth  of 
use  to  him.  While  he  has  it  on  board  his  ship  it  does  not  answer  the 
purpose  of  an  anchor:  his  vessel  drifts  with  the  anchor  on  board. 
He  drags  it  out  upon  the  deck  and  looks  at  it.  AVhat  an  anchor! 
Would  not  that  hold  in  the  day  of  storm  ?  He  admires  his  anchor  as  if 
it  were  a  mass  of  gold.  The  winds  howl  and  the  waves  roar,  but  he 
feels  safe  with  his  anchor  on  board.  Fool,  this  anchor  is  of  no  use  to 
you  while  you  can  see  it.  A  ship's  anchorage  cannot  be  in  the  ship 
itself.  "Suppose  I  hang  the  anchor  from  the  side  of  the  vessel."  It 
is  of  no  use  there.  What  must  you  do  with  it?  Fling  it  overboard. 
Let  it  down  into  the  deep,  even  to  the  sea-bottom.  It  is  gone.  You 
cannot  see  where  it  is.  All  right!  That  will  do.  Now,  soul,  fling 
your  auchcr  of  trust  overboard.     l)o  not  let  it  hang  to  your  f-^elings, 


ONLY  TRUST  HIM !   ONLY  TRUST  HDl!  707 

or  to  your  impressions,  or  to  anything  that  is  in  you  ;  but  overboard  let 
it  go,  deep  into  tlie  waters  of  infinite  love,  and  let  it  get  a  gripon  Jesua. 
Outside  of  you  your  hope  must  be ;  for  as  long  as  your  confidence  is  within 
3'ou,  or  has  any  dependence  upon  yourself,  it  is  like  an  anchor  on  board, 
which  can  only  increase  the  weight  of  the  ship,  but  certainly  cannot  help 
it  in  the  day  of  storm.  There  is  the  truth.  God  grant  you  gi-ace  to 
accept  it. 

II.  And  now,  secondly,  and  as  briefly  as  I  can,  I  want  to  bring  for- 
ward WHAT   THE    REASON    IS   FOd   OUR  BELIEVING    IN   JeSUS  CjIRIST. 

AVhat  warrant  have  I,  as  u  sinner,  for  trusting  myself  with  Jesus 
Christ  ? 

No  warrant  whatever  within  ourself  need  be  looked  for.  The 
warrant  for  our  believing  Christ  lies  in  this — first,  there  is  GocTs  tvil- 
ness  concerning  his  Son  Jesus  Christ.  God,  the  Everlasting  Father,  has 
set  forth  Christ  "  to  be  the  propitiation  for  our  sins,  and  not  for  ours 
only,  but  also  for  the  sin  of  the  whole  world,"  God  the  Father  says  to 
men,  "  I  am  able  to  forgive  you  justly  through  the  death  and  righteous- 
ness of  my  Son.  Trust  me,  and  I  will  save  you."  What  do  you  want 
more  than  that  ?  He  that  believeth  not  hath  made  God  a  liar,  because 
he  hath  not  believed  his  witness  concerning  his  Son.  Why,  surely,  if 
God  declares  a  thing,  you  do  not  need  further  evidence.  "  Let  God  be 
true,  and  every  man  a  liar."  What  can  be  firmer  than  the  voice  of  God, 
who  cannot  lie  ?  Beloved  hearers,  I  feel  as  if  I  really  ought  not  to 
bring  any  other  evidence  before  you.  It  looks  so  like  insulting  the  Lord 
by  trying  to  defend  him,  as  if  his  perfect  truth  needed  my  testimony  to 
support  it.  Angels  never  doubt  God.  Those  bright  and  glorious  beings 
never  suspect  their  Maker.  Worms  of  the  dust !  Worms  of  the  dust, 
how  can  you  doubt  the  God  that  made  you  ?  Oh,  let  it  not  be  so.  And 
when  his  testimony  is  that  he  is  a  God  ready  to  pardon  the  guilty, 
waiting  to  forgive  all  those  that  trust  his  Son,  why  should  we  doubt  such 
a  gracious  declaration  ?  My  soul,  I  charge  thee  trust  thy  Saviour,  and 
raise  no  further  question,  but  let  the  matter  be  assured  and  established 
within  thee. 

The  next  warrant  for  our  believing  is  Jesus  Christ  himself.  He 
bears  witness  on  earth  as  well  as  the  Father,  and  his  witness  is  true. 
Consider  who  this  Christ  is  whom  we  are  bidden  to  trust.  Look  at 
his  person.  He  is  God,  "very  God  of  very  God."  Can  we  doubt 
him  ?  He  is  perfect  man,  and  he  has  taken  perfect  manhood  upon 
himself  for  our  sakes.  Can  we  doubt  him  ?  He  has  lived  a  perfect 
life.  When  did  he  ever  lie?  Who  can  charge  him  with  falsehood? 
He  hag  died  "  the  just  for  the  unjust,  to  bring  us  to  God";  and  God 
has  accepted  the  sacrifice  of  his  dear  Son.  What  surer  proof  of  his 
truthfulness  can  he  give  us  than  his  death  for  us  ?  0  trembler,  why 
wilt  thou  refuse  thy  confidence  to  one  so  worthy  of  it  ?  Canst  thou  doubt 
Calvary?  Wilt  thou  despise  the  cross  ?  Wilt  thou  say,  "  I  want  some 
other  warrant  foi'  trusting  Christ  besides  his  own  person  and  his  finished 
work"  ?  I  feci  ashamed  almost  to  be  pleading  here  for  such  a  thing  as 
this.  Tell  me  wherein  my  Lord  was  ever  false.  0  sons  of  men,  tell 
me  when  once  he  refused  to  receive  a  sinner  that  came  to  him.  You 
know  that  he  is  risen  from  the  dead,  and  that  he  has  gone  into  heaven, 
and  sittcth  now  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  and  will  sliortly  come,  aud 


708  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE  PULPIT. 

dare  you  treat  him  as  a  mere  pretender  ?  Can  you  not  trust  in  him  ?  Can 
you  dare  distrust  him?  Do  you  want  signs  and  wonders  over  and 
above  those  which  are  in  himself?  If  one  should  rise  from  the  dead  you 
would  not  believe,  if  you  do  not  believe  Jesus,  for  you  have  more  than 
Moses  and  the  prophets,  when  you  have  Christ  himself  risen  from  the 
dead.  Will  you  not  trust  him  ?  I  would  like  to  get  you  by  the  hand, 
my  brother,  and  put  it  personally  to  you, — Do  you  mean  it,  that  you 
suspect  my  Saviour  and  cannot  tvust  your  soul  with  him  ?  Do  you 
mean  it  ?  Nay,  with  tears  I  do  entreat  you,  do  not  treat  him  so  badly, 
but  cast  your  soul  on  him  at  this  instant,  and  believe  him  just  as  you 
are,  and  he  will  save  you.  He  will  not  run  back  from  his  word,  but  ho 
will  wash  out  your  guilt  in  his  own  blood  if  you  will  consent  to  be 
cleansed. 

Still,  to  put  this  in  another  shape,  you  want  to  know  why  you  are  to 
believe :  your  warrant  for  believing  lies  in  the  fact  that  God  commands 
you  to  helieve.  "  He  that  believeth  and  is  baptized  shall  be  saved ;  but  he 
that  believeth  not  shall  be  damned."  "  Believe  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  thou  shalt  be  saved."  And  this  commandment  we  have  received 
from  our  Master — that  we  preach  this  gospel  unto  every  creature  under 
heaven:  and  we  do  preach  it  in  his  name,  commanding  you  in  the 
name  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  that  ye  believe  in  him.  This  divine 
command  is  warrant  enough  jfor  you.  If  God  commands  you  to  do  it, 
you  need  not  say,  "  May  I  do  it  ?  "  Nobody  can  want  any  permission  to 
keep  the  law :  the  command  includes  a  permit.  AVhen  the  law  of  the 
gospel  comes  from  God  himself,  dear  hearer,  what  is  there  to  do  but  to 
obey  it  and  believe  at  once?  The  door  is  open,  enter.  The  feast  is 
spread,  eat.     The  fountain  is  filled,  wash. 

Moreover,  there  is  the  promise  made  to  you  and  to  every  c^eatur^, 
"  Believe  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  thou  sbalt  be  saved."  "  He 
that  believeth  in  him  is  not  condemned."  Do  you  hear  that  ?  *'  He 
that  believeth  in  him  hath  everlasting  life."  He  has  eternal  life,  he 
has  it  now.  These  are  promises  rich  and  free  for  you.  What  more  do 
you  want  ?  Oh,  I  know  not  what  more  I  can  say, — when  Jesus  com- 
mands you,  when  Jesus  invites  you,  how  can  you  stand  back  ?  0  blessed 
Spirit,  make  this  plain  to  men  and  lead  them  to  believe. 

I  will  add  only  this  one  more  thing :  I  dare  say  these  poor  lepers 
believed  in  Jesus  because  they  had  heard  of  other  lepers  whom  he  had 
cleansed.  Now,  here  stands  one  before  you,  a  representative  of  many 
more  in  this  place,  who,  if  this  were  a  fit  time,  would  stand  up  and  say 
the  same.  I  came  to  Jesus  full  of  sin,  guilty  and  lost,  with  a  hard 
heart  and  a  heavy  spirit ;  and  I  looked  to  him,  trusting  him  alone  to 
save  me ;  and  he  has  saved  rae.  He  has  changed  my  nature,  he  has 
blotted  out  my  sin,  and  he  has  made  me  love  him,  and  love  all  that 
is  good  and  true  and  generous,  for  his  sake.  It  is  not  I,  even  I,  that 
am  lei't  alone  to  tell  you ;  but,  as  I  have  said,  there  are  thousands  in 
this  Tabernacle,  at  this  very  hour,  upon  whom  the  same  miracle  of  divine 
mercy  has  been  wrought.  Therefore  trust  my  Lord  Jesus,  and  you  shall 
feel  the  same  miracle  wrought  upon  you.  Where  are  you,  friend,  you 
who  want  so  much  persuading  for  your  own  good  ?  If  I  have  money 
to  give  away  I  do  not  find  that  I  have  to  persuade  anybody  to  have  it. 
Jingle  a  guinea,  and  what  ears  men  have  I    How  soon  they  will  rush 


OKLY  TRUST   IIIM!      ONLY  TRUST   IIIM !  .700 

where  the  coin  gives  forth  its  golden  notes.  Give  bread  away  in  a  cold 
winter,  or  even  a  little  soup,  how  the  poor  will  crowd  to  get  it !  But 
when  it  is,  "  Trust  Jesus,  and  your  sin  shall  be  forgiven  you,  and  your 
nature  shall  be  changed,  and  you  shall  be  saved  from  sinning,  and 
vou  shall  be  made  pure  and  holy,"  oh,  my  Master,  Avhat  are  they  at  that 
they  want  calling  so  often?  Men  not  only  require  calling,  they  need 
compelling  to  come  in. 

"  Dear  Saviour,  draw  reluctant  heartfs 
To  thee  let  sinners  fly, 
And  take  the  bliss  thy  love  imparls. 
And  drink,  and  never  die." 

III.  I  must  now  close  with  the  third  point,  which  shall  not 
occupy  you  many  minutes;  it  is  this,  What  is  the  issue  of  this 

KIND   OF   FAITH    THA.T   I    HAVE    BEEN    PREACHING?      TllJS   doctrinC   of 

"  only  trust  Jesus," — what  does  it  lead  to  ?  This  trusting  in  Jesus 
without  marks,  signs,  evidences,  tokens,  what  is  the  result  and  outcome 
of  it? 

The  first  thing  that  I  have  to  say  about  it  is  this, — that  the  very 
existence  of  such  a  faith  as  that  in  the  soul  is  evidence  that  there  is 
already  a  saving  change.  '*  Oh,"  say  you,  "  I  do  not  see  that.  How 
can  it  prove  that  I  am  a  new  man  because  I  trust  myself  with  Christ?  " 
Consider  a  little :  it  will  be  an  evidence  of  a  saving  change  already 
wrought,  for  it  will  show  that  you  have  come  to  be  obedient  to  Jesus, 
and  obedient  upon  a  matter  which  your  proud  will  has  long  struggled 
against.  Every  man  by  nature  kicks  against  simply  trusting  in  Christ ; 
and  when  at  last  he  yields  to  the  divine  method  of  mercy  it  is  a  virtual 
surrender  of  his  own  will,  the  ending  of  rebellion,  the  establishment  of 
peace.  Faith  is  obedience.  Faith  is  the  evidence  that  the  warfare  has 
been  ended  by  unconditional  surrender.  They  said  to  Jesus  in  olden  times, 
"What  shall  we  do  that  we  may  work  the  works  of  God?"  and  he 
answered,  "  This  is  the  work  of  God — the  most  godlike  work  that  ye 
can  do— that  ye  believe  on  Jesus  Christ  whom  he  hath  sent."  It  is 
even  so  :  in  one  sense  faith  is  not  a  work  at  all,  and  in  another  sense  it 
is  the  grandest  of  all  works.  Here  is  where  God  and  you  are  at  issue, 
this  is  the  central  point  of  the  quarrel:  you  want  to  be  saved  by  some- 
thing in  yourself,  but  God  says  that  he  will  save  you  if  you  trusc  in 
Christ.  Now,  if  you  do  trust  Christ  just  as  you  are,  it  will  be  an 
evidence  that  you  have  been  made  obedient  to  God,  and  so  obedient 
that  a  complete,  deep-seated,  radical  renewal  of  your  nature  has  evidently 
taken  place. 

It  will  be  an  evidence,  also,  that  you  are  humble ;  for  it  is  pride  that 
makes  men  want  to  do  something,  or  to  be  something,  in  their  own  sal- 
vation, or  to  be  saved  in  some  wonderful  way,  that  they  may  tell  other 
people  how  wonderfully  they  were  saved.  When  you  are  willing  just 
to  be  saved  like  a  poor,  good-for-nothing  sinner  as  you  are,  then  you 
are  already  saved  from  pride.  I  will  not  compliment  you :  you  are  a 
good-for-nothing  wretch  "of  a  sinner;  and  if  you  will  trust  Jesus,  as 
a  man  must  do  who  truly  bears  that  character,  it  will  prove  that  you 
are  humble,  and  this  will  be  good  evidence  that  a  change  has  passed 
over  your  spirit. 


'710  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE  PULPIT. 

Again,  faith  in  Jesus  will  be  the  best  evidence  that  yon  arc  recon- 
ciled to  God,  for  the  worst  evidence  of  your  enmity  to  God  is  that  you 
do  not  like  God's  way  of  salvation.  Yon  so  much  dislike  God  that  you 
will  not  have  heaven  on  God's  terms.  You,  the  sinner,  arc  so  much  at 
war  with  God  that  you  will  go  to  hell  rather  than  be  saved  in  God's 
way.  That  is  what  it  comes  to.  And  when  you  give  that  up  and  say, 
"  Lord,  so  long  as  I  can  be  made  whole — so  long  as  I  can  be  made  to 
love  thee — I  am  willing  to  be  saved  anyhow,"  there  will  be  evidence  of 
a  great  change  in  you.  When  you  cry,  "  Lord,  I  will  be  saved  in  thine 
own  way,  and  I  will  therefore  trust  Cln-ist  as  thou  hast  bidden  me," 
then  God  and  you  are  reconciled  upon  a  point  of  the  chief  importance. 
There  is  no  battle  between  you  now,  for  you  are  of  one  mind  about 
trusting  Christ.  God  has  trusted  his  honour  in  Christ's  hands,  and 
you  are  trusting  your  soul  in  his  hands,  so  that  God  and  you  are  now 
agreed  to  honour  Jesus.  The  moment  you  have  trusted  Christ,  that 
simple  thing  becomes  in  itself  a  distinct  admission  and  indisputable 
proof  that  a  great  change  has  been  wrought  in  your  relation  to  God,  and 
in  your  feelings  in  reference  to  him. 

Now,  mark  you,  before  long,  sooner  or  later,  you  will  become  (klhjhl- 
fiilhj  conscious  of  the  fact  that  yon  are  saved.  Many  a  man  is  saved,  and 
for  a  time  he  questions  the  truth  of  the  gracious  work,  but  in  due  time 
the  blessing  is  made  clear  to  him.  When  a  man  trusts  Jesus  as  these 
ten  lepers  did,  and  acts  upon  his  trust,  good  always  comes  of  it.  Sec 
the  ten  men !  They  are  going  towards  the  priest,  though  they  have 
not  yet  felt  that  they  arc  healed.  They  are  acting  upon  Christ's 
authority,  and  he  will  not  make  fools  of  them,  for  they  that  trust  in  him 
shall  not  be  ashamed  nor  confounded.  They  must  start  on  their  walk 
before  they  feel  the  healing;  but  as  they  are  going  they  shall  feel  it. 
And  you,  too,  trusting  Christ  without  any  sense  of  any  good  thing,  shall 
not  be  long  before  yoii  shall  feel  his  blessed  power  upon  your  heart.  I 
wish  to  speak  my  own  experience  simply  to  help  those  who  are  coaiing 
to  Jesus.  Wliile  I  was  coming  to  Christ  I  did  not  know  that  I  was 
coming  ;  and  when  I  looked  to  Christ,  I  scarcely  knew  whether  it  was 
the  right  sort  of  look  or  no ;  but  when  I  felt  at  last  that  Jesus  had 
healed  me,  then  I  knew  what  I  had  done.  Many  a  blessing  God  has 
given  me  as  to  which  I  have  not  found  out  that  I  had  it  till  some  time 
after  my  reception  of  it.  I  have  read  the  feelings  of  certain  good  men, 
and  I  have  said,  "  I  wish  I  felc  like  them"  ;  and  some  time  after,  when  I 
looked  back,  I  perceived  that  I  was  actually  moving  in  their  orbit,  and 
passing  through  the  self-same  experience.  iMany  a  man  wishes  he  was 
humble,  and  he  is  humble  because  he  docs  not  think  he  is  humble. 
Many  a  person  sighs,  "  I  wish  I  had  a  tender  heart,"  but  I  am  sure  that 
his  lieart  is  tender  because  he  mourns  its  hardness.  lie  longs  to  bo 
deeply  sensitive  before  the  Lord,  but  it  is  clear  that  he  has  a  tenderness 
which  he  does  not  himself  recognise.  His  ideal  of  tenderness  is  very  high, 
and  properly  so,  and  therefore  he  dreads  falling  short  of  it.  0  my  dear 
friend,  if  you  trust  Jesus  in  the  dark,  you  shall  one  day  enter  into  the 
light ;  and  if  you  never  should  enjoy  comfort  you  would  still  be  safe — if 
ail  the  way  between  this  place  and  heaven  you  should  never  have  a  con- 
sciousness  of  being  saved,  yet  if  you  have  trusted  Christ,  you  must  and 
shall  be  saved,  for  he  cannot  possibly  allow  taith  in  him  to  be  exercised 


ONLY  TRUST  HIM  I   ONLY  TRUST  HIM  I 


71X 


in  vain.  Ere  long,  if  you  trust  Jesus,  you  shall  know  his  love.  Trust 
him  as  you  sink  and  you  shall  swim.  Trust  him  as  you  feel  yourself 
dying  and  you  shall  live.  If  you  trust  him  before  you  feel  any  work  of 
grace  upon  you,  you  shall  soon  discover  that  there  was  a  work  upon 
yon,  though  you  discerned  it  not.  If  you  trust  the  Lord  you  are 
already  the  subject  of  a  divine  power,  for  nothing  sliort  of  omnipotent 
grace  could  have  led  you  to  believe  and  live.  The  state  and  act  of  faith 
are  simplicity  itself;  but  to  bring  us  into  that  simplicity  God  himself 
must  new  create  us. 

To  put  all  in  one,  if  you  are  ready  to  come  to  (Christ,  and  trust  him 
without  any  miracles,  signs,  or  evidences,  but  will  simply  trust  him  alone, 
you  have  within  you  a  power  which  will  carry  you  through  life,  and 
preserve  you  in  holiness  even  to  the  end.  This  morning  I  spoke  about 
David's  encouraging  himself  in  God.*  When  Ziklag  was  burnt,  and 
his  wives  were  gone,  and  his  men  talked  of  stoning  him,  he  fell  back  on 
God  alone.  This  is  a  high  attainment,  and  yet  it  is  one  which  has  its 
parallel  in  the  very  dawn  of  faith  in  the  sinner.  It  is  a  grand  start  in 
life  for  you,  a  poor  sinner,  to  begin  by  trusting  Christ  alone,  saying,  "  I, 
without  anything  good  in  me  whatever,  without  anything  that  I  can  lay 
hold  of  as  a  hope  for  me,  do  cast  myself,  whether  I  sink  or  swim,  upon 
Christ  Jesus  the  Saviour  of  sinners,  and  *  if  I  perish,  I  perish.' "  This 
h  a  glorious  beginning.  To  many  a  saintly  life  such  a  faith  in  the 
Lord  alone  has  been  a  crowning  act,  and  yet  you,  poor  sinner,  may 
exercise  this  same  faith  while  yet  you  are  a  babe  in  Christ.  You  will 
often  have  to  trust  in  this  fashion  in  future  life,  and  therefore  it  is 
well  to  begin  as  you  will  have  to  keep  on.  You  will  be  brought,  in 
business,  in  the  family,  and  in  the  various  trials  of  life,  into  such  a  con- 
dition that  you  will  have  to  exercise  a  faith  just  of  the  same  sort  as  that 
which  you  begin  with ;  I  would,  therefore,  have  you  learn  the  lesson 
while  you  are  young.  You  will  have  to  say,  "Though  I  am  weakness 
itself,  and  poverty  itself,  and  do  not  see  how  I  may  be  provided  for,  yet 
as  the  ravens  and  the  sparrows  are  fed,  so  shall  I  be ;  and  therefore  I 
caigt  my  nakedness  upon  God  for  clothing,  and  my  hunger  upon  God 
for  food,  and  my  very  life  I  cast  upon  him  that  he  may  preserve  it  to 
me  between  the  jaws  of  death."  This  is  grand  faith,  and  you  must  begin 
there,  for  if  you  do  not  you  have  not  begun  to  build  on  the  rock.  Your 
first  course  must  be  the  live  rock,  or  else  all  will  be  insecure.  To  begin 
well  is  half  the  battle :  mind  that  you  get  a  foundation  which  can  never 
be  moved ;  for  life  has  many  trials,  and  woe  to  the  man  whose  foundation 
fails  him. 

This  is  grand  faith  to  die  with  as  well  as  to  live  with.  Now  the 
curtains  are  drawn  and  the  light  of  the  sun  is  shut  out,  and  the 
voices  of  friends  begin  to  fail,  and  the  ear  is  dull,  and  the  eye-strings 
break.  My  soul,  thou  art  now  about  to  launch  into  the  unseen  world. 
What  wilt  thou  do  now  ?  What,  indeed,  but  faint  into  the  arms  of 
thy  Father  and  thy  God  !  Oh,  my  dear  hearer,  if  you  have  learned  to 
trust  at  the  very  first  because  of  what  Jesua  is,  and  not  because  of  what 
you  are,  then  you  will  know  how  to  die ;  for  standing  there,  in  the  pros- 
pect of  the  gi'eat  account,  or  rather  lying  there  upon  the  bed,  in  prospect 


*  No.  IjGOG.    "  Ziklag ;  or,  David  encouraging  himself  in  God." 


712  METROPOLITAN  TABERNACLE  PULPIT. 

of  tlie  Lord's  coming,  fears  will  come,  and  doubts  will  come,  and  terrors 
will  come,  if  you  are  looking  within,  or  looking  back  upon  your  past 
life  and  trying  to  find  a  reliance  there.  But  if  you  can  say,  "  My  Saviour, 
into  thy  hands  I  commit  my  spirit :  my  naked  soul  I  put  into  thy 
pierced  hands  again,"  then  may  you  breathe  your  last  in  peace,  knowing 
whom  you  have  believed,  and  being  persuaded  that  he  is  able  to  keep 
that  which  you  have  committed  to  him  until  that  day.  When  John 
Hyatt  lay  a-dying,  one  of  his  friends  said,  "  Sir.  Hyatt,  can  you  trust 
your  soul  with  Jesus  now  ?  "  "  Man,"  said  he,  "  trust  him  Avith  one 
80td  ?  That  is  nothing.  I  could  trust  him  with  a  million  souls  if  I  had 
them.  I  know  that  he  is  able  to  save  all  who  trust  him."  I  want  you 
to  begin,  then,  as  these  poor  lepers  did,  by  just  taking  Christ  at  his  word, 
and  going  your  way  in  the  strength  of  that  word  before  you  feel  any 
hopeful  change  within.  In  this  fashion  when  you  come  to  die  you  may 
look  out  for  glory  and  expect  it,  though  the  brilliance  has  not  yet  trans- 
figured you ;  you  may  look  out  for  the  eternal  crown,  look  out  for  the  harp, 
look  out  for  the  face  of  the  Well-Beloved,  and  the  bliss  unspeakable,  and 
expect  them,  even  though  the  clouds  gather  around  you.  Before  you 
pass  the  gates  of  pearl,  or  cross  the  chilly  sea,  you  may  enjoy  the  sight 
of  the  beatific  vision  by  an  unstaggering  faith.  Hope  that  is  seen  is  not 
hope ;  but  glorious  is  the  faith  which  seeth  him  who  is  invisible,  and 
grasps  the  substance  of  the  things  not  seen  as  yet.  By  this  power  I 
even  now  anticipate  the  joys  of  the  upper  skies.  Try,  beloved,  to  do  the 
same.  0  for  more  faith  !  It  Avill  be  grand  to  know  all  heaven,  though 
you  have  not  seen  it  and  felt  it,  because  you  knew  and  trusted  the  Lord 
of  heaven.  Hitherto  you  have  found  the  promise  true  ;  now  trust  the 
Lord  for  glory  as  once  you  trusted  him  for  grace,  and  you  shall  find 
ere  long  that  his  richest  promises  are  sure.' 

God  save  you,  every  one  of  you,  beloved ;  and  may  he  do  so  at  this  very 
hour,  for  his  dear  Son's  sake.     Amen. 


Portion  of  Scripture  read  before  Sermon — Luke  xvii. 


Hymns  from  "Our  Own  Hymn  Book "—COi,  693,  5.18. 


Date  Due 


J*'; 


^ 


